Queen Of The Quarter
by TalkingToTulips
Summary: 150 years since Klaus' last appearance in New Orleans, and he's returned to take back his throne, take out any obstacles and make New Orleans his home once more. But a new Queen has taken up residence in town, and it's a blast from Klaus' past that will leave him wondering what he wants more, and with a decision to face. The certainty of power or a chance of love?
1. Part 1

**Bio: 150 years since Klaus' last appearance in New Orleans, and he's returned to take back his throne, take out any obstacles and make New Orleans his home once more. But following Marcel's departure from New Orleans, a new Queen has taken up residence in town, and it's a blast past from Klaus' past that will leave him wondering what he wants more, and with a decision to face. A certainty of power or a chance of love? **

**A/N: I'm back with a new story, that has involved from a drabble that I did on Tumblr a few weeks ago. I'm planning to post a chapter a week, probably every Tuesday so it's consistent. I hope you guys enjoy and review to let me know what you think of the first chapter, any comment from you guys is a good comment! So, let us get on and enjoy this new story!**

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Every time Klaus stepped into New Orleans, it felt the same but also different. Time had passed, of course, not that he usually noticed how much until he was back on Bourbon Street. The last time he'd been here, it had been to hunt down Jane Ann Devereaux, one of two witches who had been conspiring to recreate the long dead white oak tree so they could kill all the Original family. He'd slaughtered them both and then found his old friend Marcel in charge of the Quarter.

That had been his mission last time, to save himself and his family. This time, Klaus had come to take back New Orleans for his own, to finally reclaim his kingdom. It had been a hundred and fifty years since he'd last been there. Marcel had been the ruler of the realm but before Klaus could even make a plan to usurp him; his brother had arrived in the city and distracted him from his mission with new knowledge of Silas' plan to rip the other side apart.

Klaus, scared by what Silas could do to him and his family, had returned to Mystic Falls before he could take the city back. Once Silas was dead and the situation was resolved, he'd put his plan off by a few months to go to London with Elijah. A few months became a few years, which in turn became a few decades and suddenly it was a century and a half.

Marcel had moved on, even travelled with the hybrid for a few decades when they met up in New York for drinks after the news that they were both in town reached the other. Klaus had been alone for 10 years at the time on meeting him. Rebekah and Stefan were living in Paris together, and had been for 20 years now. Elijah and Katherine had snuck off for some time together before Klaus' inevitable use of her as a scapegoat for any of his troubles. However, it never came. Even after leaving her in peace for 70 years, Katherine still didn't trust him not to hold a grudge and refused to be within three cities of him. Despite that fact, Elijah and Klaus occasionally met up to spend some time together.

Marcel had warned him that there was a new leader since he'd become bored with the Quarter and decided to travel the world, a surprising one at that. She was a newcomer to New Orleans a long while ago and people had instantly fallen behind her, as if she'd stumbled into the position without even wanting it out of the necessity for a leader in The Quarter.

That was the thing about New Orleans. The supernatural that thrived there were like sheep, they needed tending to and looking after. They needed someone to hand the power to, who could tell them what to do and what not to do or they would soon be out of control. They needed someone who could lead, who they could take orders from and be the King. Or Queen in this case.

As with most of the supernatural powerhouse cities that were dotted throughout the world, usually that power was transferred by way of combat. If challenged, the current holder of the title would have next to no choice but to battle their opponent or be seen a coward and lose the people's love and respect. At the end of these fights, if the loser wasn't missing their heart or their head, they were certainly missing their reputation and respect. The victor would be left to relish in the power that came with victory.

Both Klaus and Marcel had had to deal with many a conspirator after their power in their lifetime. Klaus had captained a few of the hubs of supernatural activity in the world before he would leave, bored or chased off by Mikael as had been the case in New Orleans. Marcel had only held New Orleans in his hand for 100 years before he suddenly became bored of Louisiana and wanted to see the world beyond the United States border. His leaving had left a gaping hole in New Orleans' underworld that this newcomer had taken advantage of. Neither of them had ever fought a woman for the power of a city before, but it looked like Klaus would be the first

Klaus would certainly enjoy yanking this Queen Bee's heart out.

Witches were the easiest way to find anything in New Orleans, all they needed was a bit of encouragement by either bargaining or threats and they would be putty in your hands. Klaus found a witch in the Quarter, and having been raised on bedtime stories concerning the evil hybrid, she caved almost instantly and told him everything she knew about where to find the new Queen. The new Queen in question had an apartment a few minutes from where they were stood, that's where you could find her if you wanted an audience, the witch explained.

Klaus was directed straight to her hub, her palace. Keys and locks were never much problem with Klaus, but this particular time, he compelled the doorman, who conveniently happened to be a vampire and easy to manipulate, into giving him the spare key so no suspicions would be aroused by his usual method of breaking and entering. It was a penthouse apartment, a lavish one that looked out over the city, so she could admire the lofty heights she stood on as ruler. It screamed power and royal grace.

One wall was almost completely windows, ceiling to floor, that he noticed had the ability to become tinted for the nightwalkers, and looked out on Bourbon Street among others. The first room was large enough to fit the kitchen, living area and the dining room in; the walls were an exposed red brick that told of the building's age. He had no idea how long she'd lived here but the building must have been at least 100 years old. Having expected garish and tactless decor, Klaus was surprised when he found the place rather tasteful and simple; maybe he would take it as his own once she was dead.

He looked around the large open room where she would entertain her subjects, noticing the bourbon and whiskey bottles all half empty scattered amongst the room as well as a bar set up in the corner with at least three dozen different types of drink on the shelves behind it. Whoever this Queen Bee was, she certainly liked to party and definitely did not do cheap alcohol.

There was an old Latin saying: panem et circenses. It was used to describe the old world government that would appease their people by means of lavish food and entertainment rather than ruling an efficient government that could sustain the people. Maybe she was more a panem et circenses Queen than a real one. A front, a bagman, a means of distracting the supernatural entities of this great city from the real issues, Klaus thought to himself as he picked up one of the more expensive looking bottle, took a long gulp and then replaced it on the mantelpiece where it had sat.

Other than the alcohol and the décor, there was little indication as to who this woman was other than a party girl. There were a few cushions on the couches and a throw, a flat screen TV over the fireplace and a vase full of snapdragons on the dining room table. There were two shelves full of books, ranging from classic novel from the 19th century to most recent additions to the world of literature. Other than that, there were no pictures, no personal effects; the room looked barely used other than the evidence of a party.

Leading out from the living room was a small hallway that created some separation from the public area living room and her private quarters. There were two doors, one led to a study and the other to the Queen's suite. The door was already ajar so Klaus slowly pushed it wide open and found a quaint, feminine bedroom waiting for him. It hardly looked like a great ruler's. The walls were a cream colour; the bed was a tall mahogany four poster with cream chiffon curtains, all fluffy throws and pillows, even a teddy bear sitting at the head of the bed. And just like in the living room, there were no pictures on the wall; there was nothing to tell Klaus what this girl looked like.

There was a corkboard by the French doors that led to a balcony that caught Klaus' eye, as it was covered in pieces of paper and pins. He approached it and began to realise what it was. There were ticket stubs, receipts, different pieces of paper that were somehow connected to her life were pinned against the cork; a plane ticket to Paris, a napkin signed by some long dead celebrity she'd obviously met. There was one Polaroid of the Eiffel Tower on a cloudy day labelled 2017 but no pictures of her. She was a memory hoarder, like him even though that was rare for a vampire.

Klaus plucked a ticket from a concert in 2020 off the board and just as he held it up to read the small print that was fading with time, he was pushed into the wall and held against it by one hand on his upper back. Surprised that someone had gotten the jump on him and slightly bemused by the fact someone thought they could take him; Klaus didn't react until he felt the unmistakable point of a stake into his back. It seemed the Queen was putting up a fight.

With one swift movement, he'd turned around and pushed her back onto the bed, letting the ticket fall from his hand as he did. His attacker fell right onto her back, obviously winded from his shove and groaned, her long, blonde hair covering most of her face. Her hand still clenched around the stake he'd only just realised had been sitting on the bedside table this whole time. His eyes had glazed over it but not noticed it completely. Someone was obviously a little paranoid of marauders, he thought to himself. Klaus decided in that second that he would plunge that very same stake into her heart, and let her enjoy the tragic irony for a few seconds before Death came to claim her.

"Your Majesty." He greeted her mockingly, knowing she knew her title full well. It was then that the girl finally recovered and sat up on her elbows. Her blonde curls fell to the side to reveal her face and Klaus stopped dead in her tracks. No. This was not possible. "Caroline?" He asked in disbelief.

"Yup." She grumbled, obviously unimpressed by his appearance in her bedroom, sitting up properly and rearranging her dress from where it had fallen awry in his pushing her away. The stake was still in her hand, but it wasn't the white oak so he had very little to worry about. He was surprised that Caroline had thought that it would cause any damage, or maybe she hadn't known it was him when she grabbed the stake in a rush to defend herself.

Klaus took her in. Though she was frozen at seventeen like the day he'd met her, she looked older and wiser still. She still looked like herself though, she hadn't been twisted into something different by the burden of immortality, and she was still Caroline. "What are you doing here, Klaus? And what can I do to get you out of here?" She huffed angrily.

"You're this new Queen I've heard about?" He asked, hardly believing what he was seeing.

"Yeah, I am. Now, unless you have plans to rip my heart out, I'd like you to leave. I had a long day and I really want to just lie back and forget everything for a few hours before the nightwalkers come a calling." Klaus was practically gobsmacked by this development but Caroline obviously didn't care about his feelings right now. Pushing herself up, she left the stake exposed on the ruffled bedspread and began over the vanity table pushed against the opposite wall. In the reflection of the three mirrors surrounding her, Klaus watched as she undid her necklace and opened a small wooden jewellery box to deposit it into.

She then proceeded to tie her hair up in a high ponytail so that when she pulled off her leather jacket, her skin was bare to reveal a small tattoo of a hummingbird on her shoulder that made Klaus smirk. It was as he trailed his eyes down her now exposed arms that Klaus noticed something. Sitting on her wrist was the diamond bracelet he'd given her 150 years ago. "I see you're still wearing my bracelet." He chuckled. She threw him a look and rolled her eyes, undoing the clasp and pulling it off aggressively. She discarded it in a jewellery box that lay open.

"And now I'm not." She growled, pulling on a thin cardigan to cover her tiny but beautiful tattoo that Klaus was sure was inspired by their conversation all that time ago. Caroline spared a glance at her shoulder before looking at him, rolling her eyes once more. Klaus smirked, that was a confirmation right there. "Why are you still here, Klaus? I told you to get out." She asked after a few long moments, Klaus raising his eyebrows at her spunk.

"This is quite a stretch from Miss Mystic Falls." He commented as Caroline began to take off her earrings, discarding every piece of jewellery but her daylight ring into the box. She rolled her eyes once more and met his eyes in the mirror as she shed her remaining bracelets, none as precious as his. "Care to indulge me in the story of how you became the vampire Queen of New Orleans? One of the most important supernatural gatherings in the world?" Caroline didn't respond to his question.

"I mean, there are vampires here that were old when Katerina was turned, some that were around when America was just a spot of land that belonged to the empire. Far more powerful than you, yet they follow a vampire who can't more than 167?" He guessed her age.

"168 next month," She snapped, standing up and crossing her arms over her chest. Caroline faced him and began to explain how she'd come to be here: "Not that this is any of your business but I arrived here a few months after you left Mystic Falls. After much coercing and torture, Elena turned her humanity back on. She remembered all the awful things she did and went absolute berserk, couldn't handle it and staked herself three days later." Klaus already knew that Elena was dead, but had never heard the story. He cocked an eyebrow.

"That must have broken the Salvatores' hearts," He commented wryly.

"Damon and Stefan got so mopey and angry that they couldn't save her that I couldn't bear to be around them anymore. Either way, last I heard Damon was in Asia or somewhere and Stefan was with Rebekah, I don't know. I kissed my mother good bye and came here, I'd heard good things about this place. Marcel welcomed me with open arms and then he left a few years after." She explained in a growly, mature tone. After speaking, she gave him a look and began out into the living area. Klaus followed her, still not done with his questions.

"And then you just became the Queen?" He asked incredulously.

"And then, I was nice to people, I respected them and they liked me back. I didn't do anything underhand or twisted, but somehow I got here. Now, please leave and go back to whatever rock you crawled from under." She told him as she slipped behind the bar. Caroline pulled out a tumbler and filled it with whiskey. She didn't offer him one. Caroline swirled the glass a couple seconds in deep thought before she took a long gulp. "Door's that way. I'll have my key back." She added, nodding over at her front door.

"I came here to kill you." He whispered. She didn't react, just sipped her whiskey as if he hadn't spoken a word. "I want New Orleans back. I came here to get it."

Caroline laughed.

Loudly.

Sarcastically.

She put her glass down and turned to him, putting her hands together in a prayer position and holding them to her lips. Her smirk was so bemused that Klaus narrowed his eyes. Was she mocking him? Him? "Killing me isn't the answer here. That's the problem with you, Klaus. I got this gig without dropping a single drop of blood. You, on the other hand, think that sweeping the corpse of who was here before you under the rug will make them forget but not this time, not with me." Klaus tilted his head at her assessment.

"You seem very assured of yourself and your worth to these people, love," he commented.

Caroline scoffed and stepped closer to him still. "I've been running things around here for more than a century." She told him angrily, pointing at her own chest to indicate herself then pointed at him accusingly when she continued a second later. "Your name is just a legend whispered in the corners now. You haven't been spotted in America for 60 years. You can't just come back and take what is mine, what I worked for and I've been working on," she insisted, her voice becoming steely and tough and her eyes turning cold.

Off the back of her rant, she took a deep breath to calm down. Caroline pinched the bridge of her nose and huffed before saying one more thing, looking him in the eye. "If you want this city, you're going to have to take it from me fair and square," She hissed.

Klaus stepped to close the gap between them, a mere foot apart at this point. "I could just kill you, love, seems simpler and it's worked every time before," He warned.

"Go on then." Caroline raised her eyebrows in a challenge. Klaus and her stared down for a few long moments before he groaned and began towards the door. She smirked and picked up her glass, taking a long victory sip. "I hope the rest of your stay in New Orleans is pleasant," She called after him with a smile in her voice, teasing him for his inability to kill her after a century and half. Klaus had to admit now that she still had her hand around his heart, and the other one was around the hearts of those in New Orleans.

He stopped at the door and turned to her. "We're not done here," he insisted.

Caroline smirked. "I never thought we were."

Klaus didn't have time to weigh the double meaning of that sentence before he shut the door behind him and began angrily out onto the street, unaware of a pair of eyes watching him as he did.


	2. Part 2

**Well, I certainly did not expect that reaction! Thank you for all the favourites, alerts and reviews! I was completely blown away by how much people seem to like the first chapter! I hope I don't let you guys down. Many thanks to my amazing betas for making this story the best it can be :)**

**Onwards!**

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Klaus walked straight out of Caroline's building and began to investigate the New Orleans he'd returned to. The sun was setting, the nightwalkers were beginning to creep back onto the streets looking for fresh blood and it was the perfect stage to find out what the people thought of their Queen. He obviously wasn't welcome around Caroline for the time being, so he decided to look into how she'd been doing in this town.

His town.

Or what used to be his town.

It was her town now. It had been his, then he left it to Marcel and now he didn't have the guts to kill the one person who stood in his way from making it his once more. Klaus sat in a bar he'd found crawling with vampires and a few humans who would quickly become dinner. Even the bartender was a vampire. Not that he revealed himself as one of them just yet, even though he was far from one of them. He just listened in on tidbits of conversation that he could pick out and stayed quiet as he sat at the bar. His thoughts about losing the city he sat in made Klaus take another harsh sip of whiskey.

"Nearly drained the bottle and you're not even buzzed, by the looks of it." A bartender with long black hair commented as she approached him for the tenth time that evening. From that comment alone, Klaus knew that she knew what he was. She'd pestered him constantly when he walked up and ordered the first of many whiskeys that night, but his steely attitude had convinced her to eventually give up. A short time after that, she'd just left the bottle on the bar by Klaus for him to refill, bored of popping back over constantly to fill his glass up. "Care to pour out your sorrows to the lowly barkeep?" She asked, leaning on her elbow with a smirk.

"No." Klaus replied firmly before taking in another gulp of whiskey. The bartender arched an eyebrow. "I drink alone."

"I'm sure that's a fib, I think you'd just prefer to be drinking with someone else." Klaus tilted his head in challenge and question, daring her to back up that statement. "Call it feminine intuition. Just call me when you're ready to total up your tab. Or you've killed the bottle." She commented, wiping down the bar with a damp cloth before shrugging her shoulders and returning to the rest of the tables to wipe them down.

Klaus arched an eyebrow at the woman's presumptuous nature and finished off the glass in his hand before going to fill it up once more. The amber liquid splashed against the side of the glass as he poured a fifth of whiskey and set the bottle aside once more.

There was a man sitting three stools away from him nursing a whiskey of his own. Klaus could see a vampire charming one of the only human girls in the room out the corner of his eyes. The girl was obviously drunk and falling for his charms. Klaus could tell she would be dead by dawn. The hungry look in the vampire's eyes gave that away.

That was the beauty of New Orleans. The world had long been split into hunters and the hunted, wolves and sheep. Here, in New Orleans, the supernatural didn't have to hide. The hunters could trap their prey and not hide their true nature. That was by design: Klaus' design. He'd wanted to create a safe haven for vampires to be themselves in a world where they were burned and staked for their nature, even when they hadn't asked for it. They were the most powerful creatures in the world, and they needed a place where they could be free.

Klaus had pioneered that place with his family, and now he was just a visitor in that world. It belonged to these new vampires and the blonde girl from Mystic Falls, it wasn't his anymore. He felt like an outsider watching this world, not part of it. Klaus pushed that defeatist thought from his mind and finished another glass off, putting the empty tumbler upside down on the bar before returning to his observations of the bar. The vampire and the girl were talking like conspiring lovers; he muttered something into her ear and her drunken eyes went wide with excitement.

"Another one bites the dust, eh?" Came the unwelcome commentary as the vampire led the drunken girl out into the street, inevitably to suck her dry and leave her in an alleyway. Klaus looked up to see the man who'd been drinking at the bar for almost as long as he had. This was the first time he'd really looked at the man. He was in his late twenties, in body, but Klaus could tell just from the way that he carried himself that he wasn't all he seemed. "Klaus, I assume?" He added after a few moments of eye contact.

"Who wants to know?" Klaus asked, bemused by the man's bravery.

"Forgive me, where are my manners? I'm James, a friend of Caroline's." He explained before taking a sip of his whiskey. Klaus wanted to laugh. Had Caroline sent someone to spy on him? Someone to run him out of town? And this fool? Did she think that he could do the job? "I was in the lobby of Caroline's building when I saw you leaving her place earlier, and you looked familiar. You're the hybrid right? The Original?" He asked with a tone that implied that he already knew who and what Klaus was. Klaus nodded either way. A couple of vampires turned and bristled slightly at the mention of the hybrid in the bar.

"Well, I'll be damned. The great hybrid Klaus in my bar." The female bartender had returned with a jubilant expression. Klaus looked at the black haired woman, her skin tone with its exotic, Eastern tint and her chocolate brown eyes bright with excitement. "Why didn't you tell me you knew the hybrid, James?" Klaus snorted at this claim not only because he couldn't remember the vampire in front of him but because the bartender seemed more content on calling him 'the hybrid' than his real name, that she clearly knew.

"I doubt he remembers but we met briefly after I was just turned in the 1700's. His brother turned me during the first French Revolution." Klaus didn't ask which brother had turned him, because he didn't really care. He didn't remember this man, after a thousand years the memories and decades blurred together. He couldn't be expected to remember every infinite detail of his life. He only remembered what mattered, only remembered who mattered. And this James was not either of those things. He didn't matter to Klaus.

"You're right, I don't remember," Klaus replied. "How do you know Caroline?" He asked.

"Everyone around here knows Caroline," The bartender injected in a condescending tone as she popped the cap of a beer for another customer and handed it over to him. James nodded to back up this statement. Klaus took that as his cue to turn the glass back upright and fill it up once more. The bartender without a name paused. "How do _you_ know Caroline?" She asked curiously. "Did you know her before she lived here? She's pretty quiet about what she was up to before she came to New Orleans. Did you turn her? She never talks about being turned and-"

"Aurora, shush." James piped up. Yes, Aurora, shush, Klaus thought to himself as he took another sip of the whiskey in his hand. Aurora took the hint from James' glares and Klaus' silence that they wouldn't be talking about Caroline before she was the Queen and quietened down, wiping down an already spotless bar. She kept her eyes low as the two men continued to drink in an awkward silence filled with unanswered questions. Klaus decided to speak first. Never miss an opportunity for a show of power, he thought to himself.

"What were you doing in Caroline's building?" He asked James curiously, seeing as he'd dodged the original question about how he knew the blonde. Aurora's eyes shifted between Klaus and James and then back down at her work, trying to remain invisible so she could listen in on the conversation between the two men. James looked into his drink with a smirk. "Something amusing, mate?" Klaus arched an eyebrow.

"Well, for starters, I live in that building. Secondly, I like to keep an eye on Caroline. There are a lot of people who'd like to hurt her. It would be a shame to lose someone as lovely as her. It's funny though, the pair of us have been close friends pretty much since she got here but she's never mentioned you." James commented before standing up and taking out his wallet. Klaus' face fell into a cold mask at those words and he took another gulp of whiskey. James pulled out a couple notes and put them on the bar. "That should cover the drinks for the both of us for the evening, Aurora."

"Pleasure as always." Aurora commented, taking the bills and holding them up to the light. James chuckled and shook his head at the woman's actions. She opened the till to slip the notes inside and cleared away his glass. "I'll be seeing you tomorrow then?"

"Wouldn't miss it. I should go check that Peter hasn't left that girl in the middle of the street dead, poor bastard is still learning the ropes of hiding a body." James smirked before turning to Klaus. "Nice meeting you, mate," He told the hybrid without the slightest hint of meaning it. He then sauntered out of the bar and into the busy streets, full of New Orleans nightlife. Aurora waved him off then went back to serving a new customer.

Klaus turned to the girl after a few seconds. "What's tomorrow?"

* * *

Back in her apartment, Caroline finished her own glass of whiskey and left the empty glass on the bar, enjoying the after kick of the alcohol. It was nearing 1am now, and she knew that someone would come looking for her eventually. She always made a quick appearance in the New Orleans night, but today, she didn't feel like her New Orleans self. She was the Queen of the Quarter, 168 years old next month yet she felt like Mystic Falls her. Barely eighteen years old and Miss Mystic Falls her. And she knew why.

Because of bloody Klaus Mikealson.

Caroline began into her bedroom where she'd found Klaus that evening. She remembered that having got home and sensed an interloper into her home, she'd investigated but it wasn't until she'd already threatened Klaus with a stake and been pushed onto her bedspread that she'd realised that it was the hybrid who was in her apartment. She sighed as she looked at the still-crumpled bed sheets and the stake that still lay there. The room still had his lingering scent in the air.

"Caroline?" Caroline heard the door open and the voice of her best friend fill the apartment's quiet air, but she didn't respond. After a few moments of quiet, the newcomer in the apartment practically screamed the blonde's name into the apartment. Her heels clicked against the floor as she crossed the living room and came towards the bedroom. The blonde turned to see her friend walking in with a confused and worried expression on her face. "Caroline? Did you not hear me?"

"I heard you, Saoirse. Believe me." Caroline commented as she began to pull her sheets tighter and neat again, using the palm of her hand to smooth the crinkles in the bedspread before picking her stake up from where it still sat on the bed. She put it back on the table as her friend began to babble.

"I've been worried sick about you! There are rumours all over the Quarter that the hybrid is in town and when you didn't come to the usual place or respond to my texts, I was scared that he might have killed you!" The girl rambled as Caroline moved from her bedside to her vanity table sitting at it and watching Saoirse in the mirror as she went off on her rant about how Caroline should know better than to ignore a text from her.

The girl was about Caroline's height, with long chestnut red hair that she had pulled up in a ponytail almost constantly. Her complexion was pale, due in part to her Irish heritage . Her accent was long faded from a strong Northern Irish accent to a softer hint of her former voice. When Caroline asked if she missed her full-on Irish accent, she always said that after more than two centuries living in America as a vampire, you tend to lose the parts of yourself that don't matter. She usually added that you also lost some parts that do matter, but there was nothing you could about it.

Saoirse had been 24 when she'd been turned against her will in the early 1900's and desperately taken the first ship out to America, leaving her husband and two children behind for their own good and protection. As a result of that and the memory of her five younger sisters, she was a textbook older sister type, always worrying about those she loved.

Caroline sighed and shook her head. "And then James texted me saying that he saw the hybrid leaving your apartment and I was sure he'd killed you!" Saoirse exclaimed before sitting on Caroline's bed, half glaring at her through the mirror.

"Well, as you can see, I'm perfectly fine," Caroline told her soothingly. "See, no broken bones, no blood, no missing heart, just a headache."

"But the hybrid was here?"

"Yes, the hybrid was here. I wish everyone would stop talking about the bloody hybrid. Klaus came here to kill me and he didn't, I don't see what's got the nightwalkers so damn excited." Caroline commented, propping her head up on her elbow and massaging her temple with her fingertips. It had only been a few hours since she'd found out Klaus was here and she was already sick of him being in her life again; she just hoped that he would be gone in the next few days and she could return to normalcy with her friends not worrying about her imminent death. Well, not as much.

Saoirse furrowed her brow. "Well, what was he like?" She asked curiously.

"Same as he was 150 years ago. Self-serving and smarmy," Caroline replied, getting up and walking back into her living room. Soairse stammered a little in response and followed Caroline, asking what she meant by 150 years ago. The blonde rolled her eyes and poured them both a new drink of bourbon, she was not nearly drunk enough for this conversation. "I've met him before. When I was just turned. I swear I've mentioned that." She added before downing the glass in one.

"No! I think I would have remembered if you told me you'd met the original hybrid, Caroline!" Her best friend exclaimed wildly before downing her own glass. Caroline pursed her lips as she filled up their glasses again but neither of them took a sip. "But then again, you never really talk about what you were doing before you came here. All I know is you were turned in 2010 and you lived in Virginia all your human life," She added, giving her look she used to guilt Caroline. The blonde shook her head and sipped at her glass.

"That part of my life is over. It's not worth talking about, and neither is Klaus. He'll be gone in a few days and we can all go back to normal and stop worrying about him ripping my heart out," Caroline insisted, leaning on the bar as she spoke. Her companion looked unconvinced as she sat on one of the barstools, taking a meagre sip of her drink. Soairse's phone buzzed on the bar and she picked it up to read the text.

"James says that the hybrid is drinking Aurora out of house and home." She smirked. Caroline smiled at the image of Aurora talking Klaus' ear off. She only hoped that Klaus wasn't angry enough to kill the poor girl, Aurora honestly didn't mind to be such a busy body but it did help her when she was tending one of the busiest supernatural bars in the Quarter. "He wants to know if you'll be making an appearance tomorrow, or hiding out from the hybrid."

"The hybrid has a name. It's Klaus. Nothing bad will happen to you if you say it. Your ear won't fall off and your tongue won't turn to fire in your mouth." Caroline chuckled, leaning over to give her friend a gentle tug on the ear when she mentioned it falling off. The red head chuckled and shrugged off Caroline, pulling away with a shake of her head. "And _Klaus_ doesn't scare me. If he wanted to kill me, then he'd do it in the street or in my own bedroom. He doesn't really care. Tell James that I wouldn't miss it. And to stop worrying," she told her friend as she finished off her drink.

"James? Not worry? You have better chance of your ear falling off," Soairse commented with a smile as she texted back what had been dictated to her. Caroline rolled her eyes as her friend put the phone aside and shook her empty glass. "Another?"

"Another." Caroline smirked as she began to pour.


	3. Part 3

**The response to this story continues to blow me away! Absolutely amazing you guys! I love you all and every review, favourite and alert so much more than any money Amazon could ever give me xD **

**I posted on my Tumblr that I had a prequel coda to the story that I wrote to help me shape Saoirse and James' character and I'll post it when this story gets to 60 reviews or that post gets 10 notes. It has 6 right now, so going and liking the post may bring you guys a little closer to finding out what those two were up to before Caroline came into their lives. Onwards to the story. **

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Klaus didn't leave New Orleans, instead he got the most expensive hotel room he could find and decided to observe Caroline's kingdom for a little while.

It turned out the event Aurora and James had been discussing was of the supernatural kind, a party that happened once a month the day after the full moon. Because she was such a chatterbox, Aurora spilled the secrets about where the party was being held and when, before she could even realize what she was saying. It would begin at sunset and go until the nightwalkers had to crawl back to wherever they went during the day and the rest of the party goers dropped out of exhaustion. The human population could only watch.

During the day, Klaus wandered the streets that were mostly lived in by supernatural beings: witches, werewolves recovering from the full moon and day walkers. Where the supernatural community usually hated anyone who was not their own, Klaus saw that it was different here. Witches sat and drank beer in the midday sun whilst they discussed a new spell, Marcel's old rules evidently thrown out the window. A werewolf and a witch talked about motorcycle parts. Klaus had never seen anything like it in his life.

Practically everyone was buzzing, with the excitement of the party and seeing the Queen out and about. It was the one constant topic of conversations, next to the rumours that the hybrid was in town. Ironically nobody seemed to realise that they were metres from the hybrid in question as Klaus sat at the bar of Aurora's place throughout the day once he was done exploring. Aurora's bar sat in the middle of the main street that made up the supernatural part of the quarter; only every fifth or so person was a human by the smell of them, and they were humans who were obviously in on the secret.

The bartender popped over every so often to fill up his glass and tried to poke information from him but he was resistant as she was when he asked about Caroline's whereabouts. She was loyal to Caroline and refused to tell him where she was, for fear he'd hurt her. Klaus adjourned to his hotel room as the dinner rush began to shower and change, having rented out the most expensive suite he could find close to the Quarter. By that time, Aurora was happy to see him gone.

Klaus decided to visit the party whilst it was in full swing, and by that, he meant literally. The party took up the entire pedestrian main street that Aurora's bar sat on and had taken over most of the buildings, people spilling out and dancing on balconies and even on rooftops. It was loud, proud and dangerous, and Klaus loved it.

Just as he imagined, he found Caroline at the epicentre of the rabble of supernatural. She sat on the hood of a car watching the party around her as the guests handed around bottles of various alcohol and liquor and compelled humans to feed on for the partygoers who were vampires. There was a spot of ruby red blood on the edge of her mouth which she was wiping off with the pad of her thumb and sucking into her mouth as he approached her with a knowing smirk on his own lips. She had a bottle of whiskey in her other hand and didn't clock onto his arrival before he announced himself.

"No longer on the bunny diet I assume?" He asked her, catching her attention. She scowled at the sound of his voice, and her eyes snapped to meet his. He smirked once more and took a moment to peruse her as she lounged on the car. She wore a thin vest that showed off her tattoo and some denim shorts that reflected the summery New Orleans heat.

"Go away. I don't want to talk to you." Caroline rolled her eyes and took a sip of whiskey, sliding off the car hood. She gave him one last glance over her shoulder before she begun to weave her way through the crowd away from the hybrid.

Klaus followed.

"And if I don't? Going to run me out of town? Going to send James after me?" He asked with a low chuckle as she took a huge gulp of the whiskey. Despite tensing slightly at the mention of her friend, she walked, not answering him. Klaus just continued to pursue the blonde. "Because I'm sure you can imagine how well that plan would go over," He commented as Caroline greeted friends and exchanged quick greetings with passer-bys in the party infested street.

"Please, I never sent James after you. I wouldn't put my friend in danger like that, or be that interested in whatever you were doing," She assured him, taking another swig of her whiskey between sentences. As she finished speaking, the pair of them passed a male vampire feeding on a girl. Klaus quickly recognised the vampire as the charmer from Aurora's bar the night before as he kept the girl pressed against street lamp and bit into her jugular. The girl herself was visibly enjoying the treatment, to which Klaus raised an eyebrow.

Caroline observed the couple for a few moments before bringing her fingers to her lips and whistling sharply. The vampire automatically looked up from his meal, his vampire face vanishing quickly in the presence of the queen. "That's enough, Peter. Poor thing's losing colour in her face," Caroline told him authoritatively as she brushed the back of her fingers against the girl's cheeks. "James and I have told you about this," She added.

Klaus expected a fight from the male vampire over this order to stop draining the life from a submissive girl who seemed to be enjoying her demise. Instead Peter nodded and bit into his wrist, to feed the girl his blood and heal her gaping neck wound. The brunette he'd been feeding on sucked on the open wound like she'd done it before, and her wound began to stitch together once more. "Good, now make sure she gets home safe and sound." Caroline smiled.

The blonde could obviously feel Klaus' incredulous gaze on her so she turned to Klaus before sighing heavily. "In one thousand years, did you honestly never think that some people out there like to be bitten? Half of them aren't even compelled. They're just here for the thrill of it. There's vampire blood in the wine as well to make sure everyone is healed by the end of the night," She explained as Peter led the brunette away from the party.

"Work of a genius, love," He assured her, tilting his head in consideration of the idea that some people would eagerly agree to the submissive pleasure that came from being nearly drained. He then smirked once more. "Are you supplying any thrills tonight?" Klaus asked. From the tell-tale drop she'd licked from her lips earlier, Klaus already knew the answer and that she had been drinking from the throng of human blood bags on the display. She didn't respond but she knew that he knew that she'd thrown out the vegetarian diet. "Oh, how the years have changed you, Caroline," he commented.

"For the better." She replied sardonically, gulping down some more whiskey and beginning away from him again. He began after her as she did a little spin to the music that was pumping out of one of the apartments at a deafening volume. Klaus smiled at her carefree attitude, something he'd rarely seen in the girl from Mystic Falls. He could see her liberated from her former self. Caroline finished her little dance and took another huge swig, turning to face him and walking backwards as she spoke. "So, now you've seen the way things are done around here now, are you here to rip my heart out where everyone can see?" she asked.

A couple vampires heard that and looked up, ready to protect their Queen. A few even appeared at Caroline's side or behind her; amongst her group of guards, James stood directly beside Caroline and stared the hybrid down. Caroline looked around at them with an exasperated expression. "I'm fine, guys." A few relaxed, but James stayed tense behind the queen. "I'm fine, James. Besides you could spend from now till the end of time trying to kill this guy."

"She's right; your Queen is safe. Now run along, boys. The adults are talking." Klaus chipped in, waving them away. The three vampires at her side all thawed slightly.

"You sure, Care?" James asked her curiously.

"I'm fine, James, now go enjoy yourself," She assured him, giving him her trademark smile and a playful push to get him and his posse to disappear. James nodded and smiled himself, before motioning for the remaining two vampires to disappear into the crowd with him. Klaus knew that James would be lurking but at least he wasn't hovering in plain sight now.

"You seem to have things in control here. I mean, that James is practically your lap dog, Caroline. Do you have him picking up your dry cleaning yet?" Klaus smirked knowingly, to hide his jealously at James and Caroline's friendly exchange moments before. Caroline gave Klaus a look and continued to empty her bottle of whiskey, not finding his teasing amusing in the slightest. "Pray tell, how did you manage that?" He asked, looking around the party. He saw and sensed vampires, werewolves, even some witches. It was the biggest gathering of mixed supernatural he'd seen since…ever.

"A magician never reveals her tricks. Especially to someone who claims to want to take this city from me," She commented, warming up slightly to him and smiling as she spoke. Caroline looked up at the top of the buildings, where the party was continuing on the rooftops, tilting her head and watching those enjoying themselves. Someone yelled her name from a balcony and she waved, which caused a cheer amongst those dancing and drinking on the platform.

Klaus watched as the girl he'd been enamoured with 150 years ago was truly adored and appreciated by those around her. She had friends that sought to protect her without her asking for it, willing to put their lives on the line for hers. She had a kingdom and power; she was comfortable with herself and her nature. Klaus looked at the blonde in front of him and saw true majesty. He took a step towards her as she finished waving to those dancing on the balcony and her eyes returned to his. "Taking New Orleans from you now seems like it would be wasted breath with such a rabble behind you. You've done extremely well and it's clear that you're loved here." He replied.

"Well, I'm glad you approve." Caroline chuckled sarcastically as she took another long sip of her alcohol, waving to a friend who called from down the street behind Klaus. He kept his eyes on her as she acknowledged the party goer and shouted niceties.

She met his eyes once more and her smile faltered slightly before she replaced it with the warmer, real version that he recognised from a century and a half ago. They were standing amongst this partying mass of the supernatural, completely still and their eyes not leaving its others. Caroline broke the moment by looking away and waving to another passer-by paying homage to her. "Planning on sticking around long? Because if you are, I'd rather know now," she asked calmly.

Klaus chuckled and tilted his head in consideration. "I think I can afford to spend some time basking in your presence."

Caroline shook her head with a smile and offered him the bottle of whiskey; he took it from her and took a long gulp of the amber liquid. She smiled and looked around at the street, vibrant with life, as she spoke again. "Good." Part of him knew she just wanted to show off her world, how well she'd done without him. The other part of him didn't care.

* * *

"I don't like this," James commented dryly, as he stood on the balcony of Saoirse's apartment with a beer in his hand. The apartment owner leaned in the door frame with her own beer, and they both watched as their blonde best friend spoke with the hybrid in the street. James took another sip of his beer and shook his head when Caroline giggled at something he said. "He just shows up and wants to be friends with her after 150 years? How can she not see that he's going to rip her heart out the first chance that he gets?" He asked incredulously.

"Caroline seems to trust him," Saoirse chipped in, popping her eyebrows. "And if he wanted her dead, she would have been dead yesterday before the rumour mill started churning about his reappearance in The Quarter." The Frenchman looked over his shoulder at the redhead and she shrugged her shoulders. "I'm sure Care would let us know if she thought she was in danger."

"I have 150 years of evidence to suggest otherwise," He added. "I swear she purposefully makes it harder for me to keep an eye on her."

"Well, she never asked for you to start guarding her, James, you sort of took it upon yourself," she commented, walking so she was standing at the railing next to him and nudging him on the shoulder with a wry smile. James rolled his eyes, trying to hide his smile, and continued to drink his beer. Down on the street, Klaus laughed at a story that Caroline was telling him. James' eyes darted around the street party for possible threats, but he could only see one major threat at this party and that particular threat was standing next to Caroline laughing. "Take the night off, James," Saoirse instructed softly.

"From being her friend?" He asked her with a smirk.

"From being her bodyguard," Saoirse interjected, poking him in the shoulder playfully. James smiled once more and didn't conceal it this time. "Look, I don't trust the hybrid either, but Caroline is the one who knows anything about him that isn't folklore or bedtime stories from the witches, so we need to trust her that she'll be safe. She'll get out the moment that she thinks she's in danger. Until then, let her be." The redhead commented, watching the blonde and the hybrid as they shared the remaining whiskey between them.

Saoirse smiled when she spotted the smile on Klaus' face as he watched the blonde. She knew that look too well. "Besides, I don't think he'd hurt her."

James rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I bet he's totally harmless," He hissed. "Saoirse, he's the Original hybrid. He's killed thousands, if not tens of thousands, in his lifetime, and look at him, smiling and laughing away. He will kill her without a second thought and not even feel guilty about it, because she has something that he wants. Right now, he's just trying to get her to trust him," he insisted. Saoirse shook her head with a sigh and James growled low in his throat. "If you don't wanna believe me, that's fine, Saoirse but I'm not letting him hurt her."

"I'm not either, but Caroline won't be happy if we go all overbearing parents on her," she explained with a sigh, as she finished off her beer and put a hand on her hip. "Leave them be. Or I'll make you leave them be," She told him before beginning into the apartment, her heels clicking against the wood as she did. The apartment, which sat above Aurora's bar, was shared by Saoirse and the bartender. Trashing the empty bottle, the redhead pulled another beer from the fridge.

"You know I'm older than you right?" James called back, eyes still on Caroline as she and Klaus continued their conversation on the street. The partying was so loud that it made it near impossible to pick their voices out of the crowd.

"Yeah, but I mean what I say, James," Saoirse warned, as she popped the cap off the beer and took a long sip. "I'm going to go check on Aurora, don't be lurking all night," She shouted before shutting the door. James rolled his eyes and brought his beer to his lips once more, as Klaus and Caroline continued to talk like old friends. He knew there was something going on between those two and as Caroline's safety depended on it, he had to find out what.


	4. Part 4

**Here it is, chapter four! I'm enjoying all the amazing reviews as well as the alerts and favourites! And don't worry, the romance is coming but it won't be a hard and fast romance. **

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Caroline woke the next morning in her bed, the French doors to her balcony wide open and bringing in a fresh breeze across the room. She whined and stretched her back, flexing her feet back and forth until the bone clicked. It was early morning in New Orleans and already the summer heat was beginning to set in on its inhabitants. That's something Caroline loved about this city, it was never this nice in Virginia even during the summer months. It was only May here in Louisiana and it was already hot outside. She could wear shorts and summer dresses nearly all year around and not seem strange to the human population.

She sat up in bed as the sun began to slowly peek up over the buildings and flood her room with natural day light. She looked over to her bedside table to see a half empty bottle of whiskey still sat there from last night when she'd finally arrived home in the early morning. Once the night walkers had to return home to hide from the daylight, the party began to die down gradually by the hour until Aurora finally decided to shut up shop and go to bed. Saoirse had given up an hour before and crashed and Caroline hadn't seen James again, but she was sure that he'd been lurking.

Klaus, however, had left a little while after he'd told her that he would be sticking around in New Orleans. They talked a little and shared a couple drinks, but then Caroline had been pulled away by some friends, he'd taken his leave. She'd then drank in Aurora's bar whilst the bartender and Saoirse tried to find out what she'd been talking to Klaus about or how she even knew him. Of course she couldn't tell them about her past with Klaus, could she?

_No, _she thought to herself. They would only tell James and then he'd be stuck to her like glue for the next decade. James was not only her unofficial Queens' guard, but also her replacement big brother since Stefan never spoke to her anymore. He would certainly never approve her having any sort of romantic relationship or interest in Klaus. Not had Caroline had much of either, especially not after all this time. She'd barely held a flicker of a flame for Klaus, let alone a candle, and she couldn't be expected to hold it forever.

Caroline sat up in bed and stretched her arms wide above her head, her blonde hair cascading down her back, left bare by her low back vest. Her hair had just finished growing back after cutting it to shoulder length last year, needing a change. Caroline sometimes got bored of New Orleans, she admitted it, though it was her home and her family was here now. She travelled sometimes, leaving her kingdom in James and Saoirse's hands and never letting anyone know she had left the city. The nightwalkers just believed that she was in hiding for her safety, not enjoying the culture of France or the beaches of Brazil.

The blonde stood up and began to pad her way into her living room, rubbing her eyes tiredly as she did so. Her bare feet smacked against the wooden flooring as the sunlight began to shine through the windows that took up one wall of her apartment. Without her daylight ring, she would around be a burnt up corpse on the floor. Luckily, the ring Bonnie had given her still worked and sat on her left hand as it had for 150 years.

Caroline fell onto the sofa and ran her fingers through her hair, not knowing why she let herself think about Bonnie. Her best friend was long dead; her children's children were old. Bonnie and Caroline had kept in touch and it had broken Caroline's heart when she'd died. But aside from the feelings of loneliness and heartache she got from thinking Bonnie, it also brought Salvatore related feelings and thoughts. Caroline shuddered at the thought and considered getting a glass of whiskey from her collection behind the bar, but figured that 7am was too early for getting drunk, not how much she wanted to be.

A knock at the door thankfully interrupted her thoughts and seconds later, a key was turning in the lock and the door opened to reveal Saoirse. Her red hair was around her face and she was wearing dark sunglasses. "Disadvantages of the bunny diet; you actually feel hangovers." She announced as she came in, shut the door and fell onto the sofa next to a sympathetic Caroline, who smoothed down her wayward hair and pouted affectionately for her.

"I told you not to drink so much, honey." Caroline commented as Saoirse propped her heeled feet up on the coffee table and grumbled wordlessly. The girl's hair was unwashed and huge with its natural volume that Caroline could only dream of. Saoirse's hair was a thing of beauty; Caroline detested how she usually smoothed it down and pulled it away from her hair when it looked so lovely with her natural red waves. "Everything hurts on the bunny diet."

"How did you survive like this for 30 years in this town? How did you survive a year on it at all? It tastes wretched and it's a hassle." She asked in a whine. Caroline chuckled and stroked her hair like she would to soothe a sad kitten. She rarely has to be comforter in this relationship, being the big sister to Saoirse was near impossible. But ever since she'd decided to give Caroline's old diet a go, she'd frequently come to whine on Caroline's shoulder.

"Mostly, it was willpower and not wanting to hurt anyone. However, after Stefan and I lost contact, it got harder and harder. Then I realised that I didn't have to hurt anyone and I couldn't pretend that this wasn't happening to me anymore. I mean, I was 50 years old and I still look 17. It was time to grow up and accept it." Caroline replied, wrapping an arm around her best friend and pulling her close. The red head groaned and buried her head in her friend's shoulder. "I'm proud of you for trying it though, especially after 200 years drinking from the vein." She added.

Just as she spoke, a meow rang through the apartment and a black fluffy cat came padding in from the bedroom. Caroline smiled and let go of Saoirse to scoop the scraggy cat up and bring it through to her kitchen. The red head let out a tut and got up to walk to the panel on the wall. As she turned the window's tint on so the daylight wouldn't make her eyes feel like they were fire, Caroline got the milk from the fridge and filled a saucer out. The black cat jumped onto the counter to start lapping the milk up with a purr.

"He keeps coming here because you feed him." Saoirse pointed out. Caroline gave her a look and played with the cat's fur as he drank. "Are you ever going to name him?" She asked.

"Nope, he's just the cat who comes and drinks all my milk. Like Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany's" Caroline told her with a smirk.

"Cat? More like a mongrel." Saoirse commented wryly as she tentatively patted the cat's head like it would give her a disease and took off her sunglasses off. Caroline rolled her eyes and poured her friend a glass of water to try and help with her hangover. The blonde didn't want to comment on the irony that Saoirse called Caroline's feline friend a mongrel when she and Aurora had a border collie at their apartment that hated baths. "So, are you going to tell me about Klaus or am I going to have to force it out of you?" She asked.

Caroline sighed and rolled her eyes. "Nothing happened, Saoirse." She assured her as she played with the cat's fur, the milk steadily disappearing from the saucer as he drank. He purred happily and occasionally looked up at the two girls, licking his lips and sparing them a glance before going back to his meal. He'd been coming to Caroline every morning for months now, and Caroline had been feeding him since the first time she'd found him sleeping at the bottom of her bed. "We talked a little, James and the boys overreacted and then we talked a little more."

"I know that, Caroline and I believe you; it's just…the way he looks at you. I wish you could see it, the look he had in his eyes when you weren't looking yesterday." Saoirse told her. "It's like…it's like the way I used to catch my husband staring at me sometimes." Caroline looked down when she mentioned her dead lover. Saoirse rarely mentioned her husband and children, so when she did, it was to make a serious point. Caroline blushed bright red and pursed her lips before taking another sip of her drink and knotting her free hand into the cat's fur.

"You're still drunk." Caroline insisted.

"Klaus wouldn't hurt you. I can tell that he feels something that isn't jealously and contempt for you, you're not just some obstacle for him." Saoirse countered, with her inquiring mind that seemed to always find the truth no matter how hard it was to find. Caroline stayed quiet and looked her friend in the eye. She couldn't help but think that maybe her friend was right and Klaus still felt like he had when they'd parted ways 150 years ago. What she didn't know was whether she felt like she had back then as well. Could she really fall in love with him?

Caroline shook her head. "He nearly killed me before. He bit me and I nearly died."

"But you're still here. Which means he saved you, you told me last night how his blood saves werewolf bites, remember?" Caroline sighed heavily as the cat finished the milk and began to rub himself against Caroline's midsection, purring happily in thanks for the meal. She scooped him up and pulled him against her chest, kissing his fur. "Something happened between you two all those years ago, and you don't want to tell me yet. I understand, I'm quiet about my losses in love too, but if you ever wanna tell me, then I'll be waiting in anticipation."

"You'll be waiting a long time, Saoirse." She assured her friend. The redhead looked unconvinced in her friend's testimony, popping her eyebrows in challenge and smirking. Caroline rolled her eyes and chuckled, putting her cat friend down and letting him disappear off to explore her apartment a little. Sometimes he slept in an obscure location in her apartment for a few hours, sometimes he left straight after she fed him like some weird one nightstand situation.

"Good thing that all I have is time then. Plus we'll see how well you hold up under Aurora's interrogation later today. She requested via text that we help clean up the bar before she opens later today." Saoirse added as they watched the cat disappear into Caroline's study. She ran her fingers through her hair and sighed heavily once before perking up like a fresh daisy. "And you know how she is with requests. So, get some clothes on, she's expecting us in ten minutes. Or I'll drag you out of here in your nightwear and let the whole of New Orleans get an eyeful." She giggled.

"All right! All right!" Caroline chuckled loudly. "Give me five minutes." The blonde proceeded to change into some shorts and a tank top, tie her hair up and get ready to buckle down at the bar to make it spotless for another night of supernatural activity. Whilst she changed, Saoirse had a couple glasses of water and watched with a distasteful look on her face as the black cat explored the apartment.

The girls departed from the building a couple of minutes later and began towards the bar, unaware of a shadow following the pair of them curiously, murderous eyes on the Queen.

* * *

"Good morning, ladies." James sang into the bar as he arrived at Aurora's. Saoirse groaned as she picked up left over bottles of beer from last night. Aurora was cleaning the shelves behind the bar and Caroline was wiping down the tables with a damp cloth. The radio was on full blast but the closed sign on the door indicated to the patrons of New Orleans that the bar was closed until further notice. "Oh, wow, things got a little crazy in here last night." He told the trio, looking around at the mess that the party goers had left in their wake.

"Werewolves are like that after the full moon, it makes the party twice as fun." Aurora assured him with her lopsided smirk, cleaning another glass as she spoke. James nodded and closed the door behind him, shutting out the city's bustle.

"But it's a bitch of a cleanup. So come on, Frenchie. Pitch in. This is a democracy, not a dictatorship. Everyone shares the work." Saoirse grumbled, throwing a rag at James. It hit him square in the face and fell into his waiting hands. He chuckled, shook his head and began to wipe down the tables nearest to him as Caroline worked on one in the far corner. As he began to work, Saoirse and Aurora's dog, a border collie, West stood up from his basket in the corner and went to James' side.

"Hey, Westie. How you doing, buddy?" He greeted, patting the dog affectionately on the head before returning to his work on the tables. The dog barked happily before disappearing back off to his bed. West was never on his feet that long. "As much as I'd love to stay and clean with you ladies, I came to tell Caroline that there's some daywalkers having a disagreement, they want a ruling from you. One of them drank from the others' mate, but he's saying that he didn't know who she was. If you could spare a moment from hybrid antics for them, I'm sure that would be just lovely." He explained to the Queen, who looked up at her name.

"Is that snark I'm detecting?" She asked with a quirked eyebrow.

"Or jealously?" Aurora chipped in with a smirk. Saoirse looked up at Aurora's comment, her eyes becoming cold and unreadable for a few seconds before she came back to earth. She then rolled her eyes as she continued to deposit empty bottles into the bucket she was collecting them into.

"I'm sure making sure that Caroline isn't dedicating all her time to Klaus and his mission to take the city from her, that's all." He assured the pair of them. Saoirse looked up and eyed him with her protective stare, making sure he remembered what they'd discussed the night before. "Anyways, they're on Harley street, I thought you'd be there already so I told them that you'd see them at your place. When you didn't answer the door, I came to find you. I've left Peter there making sure that they don't bite each other's heads off whilst you're on the way." He explained.

"All right, Aurora, you don't mind?" Caroline asked, putting her cloth down. The bartender shook her head and waved her away. "Text Peter, tell him I'm on the way. You can stay here and clean in my place." She told him authoritatively. Caroline spared a quick hug for both the girls and ducked out her bar into the street, beginning home. She knew the city like the back of her hand, so began quickly through some back streets to cut her journey in half. The sun beat down on her back as she began towards her apartment.

It was then she heard something behind her, slowing down and turning to look behind her. She furrowed her brow as the sound following around her in a circle. Caroline shook her head and turned to begin on her journey again, only to smack into someone. "I'm sorry! Sorry!" She blustered like a teenager, looking up at the gentleman she'd just crashed into. His face was not one she recognised, so she smiled apologetically.

"No worries. Are you Caroline, by any chance?" He asked curiously.

"I am. Who wants to know?" She replied with the smile intact. It was then that the man threw the blonde against the wall. She coughed loudly when her body impacted with the wall, and instantly went to attack the man, her fangs dropping as she did. She threw a punch, instantly breaking his nose in the process. When she tried for a second, he caught her fist and twisted her arm around her back before grabbing her other arm and holding her against his chest. "Get off me!" She shouted.

"I have a message." He told her, to which the Queen almost stopped moving. "It's from you know who." He added. Caroline went silent except for her laboured breath.

"What's the message?"

The man didn't speak, but his eyes flashed yellow and he sunk his teeth into her neck. Caroline screamed out and quickly kicked the werewolf in the instep, freeing her arms to snap his neck. He fell down dead and she looked down on the corpse. It wasn't long that the dead man fell her attention as she put her hand up to her wound, blood slipping onto her fingers as it dripped down her neck. The poison was already beginning to set in as he'd cut into her jugular vein thus the poison would only spread quicker through her system.

She fell against the wall and pulled out her phone, quickly phoning Saoirse to come find her, not explaining what had happened but knowing the girl would be able to track her quickly. Once that was done, her fingers worked by themselves as they dialled. Caroline's breath became heavier and heavier as she held the phone to her ear and waited to be connected.

"Klaus...I need your help." She whispered down the phone.


	5. Part 5

**What the hell, I hear you cry? Who is 'you know who'? What will become of our Queen? Fear not, for I have the answers! This is a rather small chapter but it leads up to a giant chapter! So, keep the reviews and such coming, I love to hear what you guys think :)**

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Klaus' phone rang in his pocket as he wandered down a New Orleans street, the morning still fresh in the air. He pulled it out and checked the ID, before pressing accept and holding it to his breath. "Yes, little sister, what can I do for you today?" He asked.

"Elijah called, told me you were in New Orleans." Rebekah explained on the other end of the line, Klaus imagined she was sitting in her apartment that she shared with Stefan, all the way in Paris as she spoke. Klaus hadn't seen Rebekah in a few years but she'd always seemed to settle in Paris, which was another one of the supernatural cities. Most of the capital cities were run by the supernatural, especially those with such rich histories. And Paris had one of the richest. Paris was one of Rebekah's favourite cities in the world.

"I am; what of it?" Klaus asked as he walked down the street.

"I only assume that means you've decided to take it back then. Or have you already killed the current leader?" Rebekah asked him. Klaus could imagine the wicked glint in his sister's eyes as she imagined the carnage that Klaus had planned to cause to take back New Orleans.

"There was a complication, or two." He explained. Rebekah sighed deeply and asked what possibly could prevent him from taking back the city in 24 hours. "Caroline is the leader in question." He admitted after a good few seconds, the whole situation was still sinking into his own brain. He could only imagine how Rebekah would react to such news.

"Oh, I knew that." Klaus blinked in surprise and stopped walking. "Stefan told me."

"Stefan told you?"

"Yes, Stefan told me. I don't know what that has to do with anything." Rebekah told him in an exasperated voice, Klaus could practically hear his sister's eyes rolling as she stood in her Paris apartment she shared with the younger Salvatore. "I just didn't think you would let that be an issue anymore. It has been 150 years after all, and you held a candle for her for a couple months before you disappeared with Elijah. I figured you'd rip her heart out and feel guilty for all of twelve hours before reaping the benefits." She told him with a smirk in her voice.

"Come now, Rebekah. No matter how much you tried to hate her, you know you ended up liking Caroline. She has the entire city behind her, I mean, real loyalty. I can't expect them to be happy about me killing their beloved Queen." Klaus insisted, beginning to walk again down the street, not noticing he was headed in the general direction of Caroline's building. "Besides, I wouldn't want to have Stefan upset at me for eternity. We know what he's like when I upset him."

"Why would Stefan be upset?" Rebekah asked curiously.

"Caroline is one of his best friends." He reminded her, taking a seat on an absent bench and pinching the bridge of his nose. Rebekah scoffed down the phone. Klaus' eyes widened at this, she disagreed with this statement. During their time in Mystic Falls, one of the constants of the ever-changing relationships and friendships was Stefan and Caroline's friendship. It was hard to deny that they were the best of friends, but Rebekah seemed to be trying. Klaus asked Rebekah what she meant by her scoffing, leaning back in the bench.

"They're not friends anymore. He doesn't talk about it, but they're not friends. Maybe you should ask Caroline before you rip her heart out." Rebekah explained simply. Klaus sighed and ran a hand through his hair. What could have broken that friendship? He thought to himself. Before he could ask Rebekah to put Stefan on the phone, she spoke again. "I have to go see a friend. Well, good luck with taking New Orleans, maybe we'll come visit you soon. Talk soon, Nik." And then the hang up tone rang through Klaus' ear before he could get another word in. He shook his head and pocketed his phone, musing over what his little sister had said.

His thoughts were cut short by his phone ringing once more. The number was unrecognised but he pressed the answer button and held the phone to his ear. "Hello?" He asked.

"Klaus…I need your help."

"Caroline. What happened?" He knew it was her from the sound of her voice, though it was laboured and heavy. The blonde began to tiredly explain what had happened to her minutes before with the werewolf attack. Klaus stared straight ahead, not making a sound as she spoke except a sigh of relief when she told him she'd killed her attacker. Caroline told him that her friends were on the way and they'd take her home to her apartment.

"The bottom line is that they can't save me, only your blood can do that. If you don't want to help me, I understand but I figured I would give it a try." She admitted with a weak chuckle. Klaus could hear her slipping away, the poison obviously working quickly. She had maybe a day left if she was lucky with her age and it not being the full moon. Klaus swallowed thickly and nodded in agreement.

The irony of the situation wasn't lost on him: He had what he'd wanted in the palm of his hand and his hands were almost completely clean. Caroline's life now rested on his shoulders and he could easily just let her die of the toxins rushing through her veins now, claim that he'd already left town or he couldn't reach her in time. He could easily shift the blame from himself and take New Orleans as his once she was dead. People would accept her death as tragic, maybe suspicious but they would never be able to prove he was involved.

"I'm on my way." He promised.

* * *

Klaus arrived at Caroline's building a few minutes later, went up to her floor and knocked on her apartment door. He still had the key but decided not to use it for now. There were a few spoken words, then some movement. The door opened and revealed James, the man from the bar. Klaus regarded him curtly and slipped past him into the apartment. The bartender was pouring herself a glass of whiskey and biting her nails, Klaus could sense Caroline and another girl's presence in the bedroom, hear the blonde's laboured breath. "Where is she?" He asked anyway.

James closed the door and crossed his arms. "Come to finish the job, have you?" He accused of the newcomer. Klaus raised his eyebrows and turned back to the man who'd spoken, Aurora looking nervously and staying quiet. The hybrid stepped closer to James and asked he what he meant by his accusation. "It's just a tad ironic that two days after you arrive in New Orleans, Caroline gets a werewolf bite. A bite that only your blood can heal." He explained with a suspicious tone, cocking one eyebrow as he spoke.

Klaus scoffed at what he was implying. "You're suggesting that I organised an attack on Caroline, only to come here and heal her?" He asked incredulously. As he spoke, a red head he recognised from the party came from the bedroom, her heels clicking against the wood. She looked between the two men and was holding a washcloth in her hand. She rolled her eyes and grabbed a bottle of whiskey and some tumblers before walking back into the bedroom.

"I'm suggesting that you organised the attack on Caroline and now you're going to stand over her whilst she dies just for the sick pleasure of it." James replied. Klaus chuckled.

"Trust me, mate, if I wanted Caroline dead, I would have killed her myself yesterday in the middle of the street where everyone could watch. And if you'd try to stop me, I would have killed you too. I don't hide behind assassins like a coward. I am more than capable of getting the job done myself." He assured the man in front of him, going to the bar and pouring himself a glass of whiskey. Aurora was sat up on the bar, swirling her drink and occasionally glancing at the two men. He took a long sip of his drink as Aurora watched on.

"Maybe you just want to play with her head. Watch her suffer for hours rather than the few seconds you'd get from ripping her heart out. Maybe you just want to cover your tracks and take New Orleans under a supposedly blank slate." James commented. Klaus looked down; knowing that he'd considered the same exact thing only minutes before whilst sitting on the bench. "I don't trust you to make the right decision." He told him.

Klaus put down his glass and raised both eyebrows. "I don't care about whether you trust me. Your opinion was not asked for nor is it of any consequence to me." He insisted. James narrowed his eyes and stepped towards Klaus, almost defensively to make a move but someone blocked him. The redhead from the bar Klaus was standing between them, facing James with both her hands on his chest. Klaus couldn't see it but they both locked eyes.

"This isn't the time to be picking a fight, James." She whispered with a hint of an Irish accent. James softened slightly and nodded, looking up at Klaus once more before sitting down on the sofa, muttering something about sunshine as he did. His fingers tangled briefly into the ends of her red head affectionately as he sat and the red head sighed heavily, turning to Klaus. She looked tired for a vampire, and scared. Scared for her best friend's life, scared for her own, scared in general, Klaus didn't know.

"Caroline is my best friend, we've known each other for 150 years and she is my sister. She is loved here and this is her home. I don't care what the price is to make you heal her. Please, just do it. I'll make her leave town and never come back, if I have to. Just let her live. She doesn't deserve to die this way." She pleaded with him softly. Klaus softened as James had at her tender bargain for her best friend's life. "Just name your price and I'll pay it." She added.

"No price. I came here to heal her. Caroline called me and asked me to help." He explained, the red head perking up at this news. By the reaction of the room, Klaus assumed that nobody knew that she had called him before they got to her, that his plan had been to heal her all along with no price, no questions, no favours asked. Klaus began into the bedroom before pausing and turning back to the three of them. "Actually, I have a price." He commented.

James glared at him but Saoirse asked what it was, not caring as long as Caroline survived. Aurora stayed quiet and waited for him to tell them what Caroline's life would cost them. "Get out, I'll heal her but I want to talk with her privately. I don't want the three of you in the building before I'm done." Aurora had flashed out the door before he'd even finished speaking. Saoirse nodded tentatively and thanked him, grabbing her bag and beginning to the door. James was last out, watching the hybrid who lingered in the doorway to the hall as they left. Once the door was closed behind them, the only sound was Caroline's breathing.

Klaus turned to face the bedroom door and slowly began inside.


	6. Part 6

**I know the last one was short but this chapter is much long and is full of intrigue, hopefully. I've posted the playlist to this story on my Tumblr so go check that out, it also has the chapter names that I didn't post them under because I prefer the Part format. Anyways, this story reached 100 reviews after posting the last chapter so yay and thank you**, **and keep the reviews coming because I love to hear what you guys think! **

* * *

Klaus began into the bedroom; the midday sun was filtering through the open French doors, the chiffon curtains moving softly in the breeze. He looked over at the bed and the woman tucked up under the sheets carefully. Caroline's breath was heavy; her whole body moved with her breathing like each one caused her pain. Klaus was all too familiar with the werewolf venom to know that she probably was in a lot of pain by this point.

There was a washcloth on her forehead, probably put there by a worried Saoirse, in an attempt to feel like she was helping her friend where she could give none. Caroline's eyes were closed as she let out a weak cough. Klaus looked on and began to the side of her bed, his eyes taking in the small bite marks on her neck and the awful red burn-like mark spreading around the bite, poisoning her. He stood over her and his fingertips brushed her bare arm.

She opened her eyes and chuckled calmly when their eyes met. He furrowed his brow and sat on the bed like he had all those years ago. This caused her to laugh a little louder, not sharing what she found so amusing. "What's so funny, love?" he asked.

"I had the most overwhelming sense of déjà vu." she explained in a tired, cracked voice. Klaus smirked softly. It was quite a throw into the past that he was seated on her bed whilst she lay dying from a werewolf bite. She looked over down at her hands which were playing absentmindedly with the sheets. Her upper body wasn't swaddled in the fabric, only covered by a thin camisole. Her skin was speckled with sweat and her hair sat dully around her face like a dying flame.

"Of course, the last two times, it was someone I knew who bit me. Not some random and now dead werewolf." The mention of Tyler caused her to go quiet for a few seconds, licking her lips and keeping her eyes down. Klaus didn't comment, he just watched her as she contemplated something distant. She licked her lips once more and took a deep, difficult breath. "I didn't think you'd come." she admitted gently. Klaus knew her sense of carpe diem and her time running out would set in soon and she would speak in complete honesty as she had the first two times werewolf venom had brought her close to the brink of death.

"I couldn't let you die like this." he smirked gently, pushing some of her hair from her face and taking the washcloth from her forehead. She hummed appreciatively as he set the cloth aside and her eyes closed once more gently. She looked like some sleeping beauty, Klaus' eyes never leaving her as she stretched a little and adjusted in the sheets. "Your friend doesn't like me. He only backed off when the red head told him to." he explained.

"I heard." she smirked, tilting her head to face him without opening her eyes. She'd be quite content where she was if it wasn't for the burning pain in her neck that threatened to take her life. Klaus' fingertips brushed her arm again but she didn't react. "It's because James is in love with Saoirse. He would bring her your head on a platter if she asked, or die trying." she told him simply. Klaus cocked his eyebrows at this new information.

"Is the love not requited?" He asked gently as Caroline's tone had implied so.

"She loves him but she won't admit it to herself, let alone him." Caroline told him simply, shifting once more before settling and opening her eyes. When she did, her eyes were soft and sad, staring at the bedside light gently. "Like many of us, Saoirse believes we only have one great love in our lives, no matter how long that is. She believes that her husband was her great love and she's cursed to live without him until they're reunited on the other side." Caroline paused as if to think about what to say next.

"She'll be waiting a long time without him then. Unless her husband didn't die as a human, they'll be separated in death as well as life." Klaus pointed out. Caroline nodded like she already knew this sad fact and it dawned on Klaus that she hadn't shared this information with Saoirse. He knew that Caroline couldn't bear to tell Saoirse that she would never see her husband again. Caroline swallowed thickly and continued with her previous line of thought.

"If she admits that she loves James, then she'll feel like she's betraying her husband in the process or that he wasn't her great love in the first place. So she tries to hide her feelings, but she's loved him for nearly 200 years." Caroline explained in a sad voice. Klaus nodded once, feeling strangely sad for the eternally young red head.

"What do you believe? Do you believe you have one great love? And that when they're gone, that's it and you can never love again? That you're cursed to be without them for all time? That you're made for one person and only that one person can complete you?" he asked curiously, his fingers brushing the ends of her hair. Caroline looked at him then looked away, sighing heavily and tilting her head a little.

"Do you?" she replied gently. Klaus smirked.

"I've lived a dozen human lifetimes, I've seen love play out a million times, seen it succeed and seen it break down like all bonds can. Love is like a show to people like me, and it gets boring to watch." he explained, brushing a small lock of hair from Caroline's face as he spoke before it threatened to get in her eyes. Caroline watched him through his speech with careful and curious eyes. "Besides, we're not talking about my views. You're avoiding the question, love."

"Maybe that's because I'm dying and I don't want to be interrogated about love on my deathbed when I may not live long enough to experience it again. I'll tell you anything you want to know once you've healed me however." she bit out, followed with a weak chuckle, shifting in her bed again and taking a heavy breath. Klaus smirked at her bluntness and brought his wrist to his mouth, sinking his teeth into the flesh until blood rushed to the newly opened wound.

He helped Caroline sit up enough so that she could comfortably latch her teeth onto the wound before it closed again and drank. Each time this happened, and even though it had been more than a century since the last time, it felt new and exhilarating to Klaus. When others fed off him, he felt nothing but with Caroline, it was an experience he would never let blur into his forgotten memories. He had never asked what it felt like for Caroline, as he imagined she was too busy trying to get enough into her system to heal her. She kept her eyes closed as she drank and only drank what she needed.

Klaus moved his wrist back and used the washcloth to clean his healing flesh as Caroline lay back on the bed, closing her eyes with a soft smile for a couple of seconds. Klaus imagined that she was enjoying the feeling of knowing she would live another day for a few long moments. He put the cloth aside and filled the two empty tumblers Saoirse had brought in earlier with whiskey. There were a few drops at the bottom of each, implying that the girls had had a glass together earlier, just in case it was their last chance to toast each other.

"Third times a charm." he commented wryly as he handed one glass to Caroline and she took a thankful sip. Klaus raised the glass to his lips and took a sip himself. Caroline licked her lips softly and caught his eyes, they both knew that he would make good use of her promise to answer his questions but now she was just waiting for him to start. "You know that I had nothing to do with your attack, right love?"

Caroline blinked, obviously not expecting such a question from the hybrid. She looked him right in the eyes and nodded once to assure him that she knew he was innocent for once in his life. "If you wanted me dead, you would have done it yourself. You wouldn't have gone to the trouble of finding a werewolf to attack me." she commented gently, her voice still a little tired and used. The threatening red mark on her neck was beginning to close. "Besides, I already know who was behind it." she added idly.

Klaus perked up at this new information. Caroline already knew who had tried to get her killed, but had waited until now to tell him or anyone she imagined. "How do you know that? Did you know the werewolf?" he asked her curiously.

"I didn't but they told me they had a message." she commented softly, looking out through the French doors that gave a beautiful view of the city. Klaus watched her, hanging on her every word, waiting for a name to fall out her mouth. He had no idea what he would do when he knew exactly who had ordered the attempt on her life but he imagined it wouldn't be pleasant. Anger flared in him when he thought of the nameless, faceless coward who had tried to steal Caroline away from the world. "Unless the part when he bit into my jugular was the message, he didn't live long enough to give it to me." she told him.

"Who was it, then?" he asked her. Caroline yawned and her head fell to the side, visibly exhausted and his blood still working its healing magic on her system.

"Caroline?" Klaus whispered, his hand coming up to brush the hair from her face where it had fallen onto her cheek. She fell quickly into a deep slumber to let his blood do its work like she had each time before. She made a little humming noise that indicated she could hear him barely but Klaus didn't press her anymore. She would be oblivious until she woke up again.

He pulled her sheets over her and made sure she was comfortable before standing up. Klaus watched her for a few seconds, once again looking like a sleeping beauty waiting for her saviour but he knew that she was her own saviour. She wasn't a princess waiting to be rescued from her tower; she was a queen in her own right. She didn't need a prince in this city. Nevertheless, Klaus leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss to her forehead, the blonde too deep asleep to ever know.

Klaus would ask her in the morning what she knew about this mystery man who hid behind werewolf assassins but right now he needed another drink. He began slowly out the bedroom, pausing once to check Caroline was okay. A scrawny black cat was sitting on the balcony, meowing softly and watching Klaus. He furrowed his brow as the creature padded his way into the room and jumped up onto the bed. The cat proudly and royally padded himself into a comfortable position and curled up at Caroline's feet.

The hybrid watched the entire exchange before shaking his head. Caroline seemed like a cat person but this cat was a shabby little street cat, the exact opposite of what he'd expect for Caroline to have in feline companion. The cat hissed once sharply at the hybrid, obviously as protective as her friends were over the blonde and Klaus took it a cue to begin out the apartment, leaving her to sleep.

He found her three friends sitting on a bench outside the building and suppressed the urge to roll his eyes. Of course they wouldn't stray too far. Saoirse was lying down with her eyes closed, enjoying the feel of the sun on her skin with her feet in James' lap. Aurora was sat on James' other side, idly playing on a phone. James was watching the red head protectively and Klaus couldn't believe he hadn't pieced it together sooner. The love in his eyes was obvious now that Caroline had pointed it out. James watched Saoirse like some men watched the stars, with wonder and admiration.

Aurora looked up to see Klaus first and shoved her phone into her pocket. "Well?" she asked him, arching an eyebrow. Saoirse opened her eyes and began to sit up, snatching her feet from James' grasp as she did. Her red hair was strewn all over her face as she moved so quickly to sit up.

"She's fine, she's asleep right now." he assured the three of them. Saoirse made an audible sigh of relief and scrambled to her feet, rushing inside to check on Caroline. Aurora smiled in thanks to Klaus and followed the girl, leaving James and Klaus alone. The pair waited until both girls were out of ear shot before beginning to speak. "Still think that I'm going to kill her?"

"Yes." James answered simply, still sitting on the bench and leaning forward. His elbows resting in his knees and the two men continued to glare at each other. "Just because you do one half decent thing doesn't suddenly mean that you won't hurt her or do anything that will bring her harm." he added, standing up and shrugging. Klaus smirked.

"Well, I won't lose sleep over your opinion of me. Believe me, it's shared by many. Some are even my relations." Klaus commented before beginning past him, clapping him on the shoulder as he spoke. James stayed quiet as Klaus began to walk away when he paused, turning to Caroline's friend and speaking once more. "Did Caroline tell you who it was that tried to kill her?" he asked curiously, wondering if Caroline had already divulged her secrets to her friend and protector. James looked over his shoulder at the hybrid with a confused expression.

"Some random werewolf. None of us could recognise him when we found Caroline and the body, we think he might be from out of town. Peter's getting rid of the body." he explained.

"And you think he acted alone?" Klaus asked. James shrugged; he obviously had no clue about the real person behind the attack, he'd after all thought Klaus was behind it. Caroline hadn't spoken with him about who had tried to kill her. Klaus had a nagging feeling at the back of his brain that Caroline was holding this card close to her chest. But why would she keep something that threatened her life secret when she had a legion of people who would hunt down anyone who tried to hurt her?

Klaus was pulled from his thoughts by James' voice. "Thank you, by the way. For saving her today." The use of the word today made Klaus feel like James thought that Klaus wouldn't let her live another day, and he should be thankful for this day with his friend. Klaus nodded once and began down the street without another reason, leaving the vampire wondering what the hybrid had been talking about. But soon enough, both men had gone their separate ways.


	7. Part 7

**So, as I promised, this chapter is a lot longer and finally reveals what the big secret is. It may shock, I don't know. Nobody's guessed it in the reviews yet so I imagine it hasn't crossed any one's mind. I have hinted a few times though. So, thank you for all the reviews and support from you guys, it really makes me really happy. Also, thanks to my two amazing betas, Mirandi and Lani for their help with the story, grammar and writing. And keeping me sane during my writing breakdowns and final exams. The story wouldn't be half as good if they weren't helping me. **

It must have seemed so strange to the inhabitants of New Orleans - everything about Aurora's bar screamed that it was taking customers, the music, the lights were on and lastly and most predominantly, the ruckus coming from inside sounded like there was a prize fight going on in the bar. Despite all this, the door was shut and the closed sign was plain to see. Of course, when the closed sign was put up, it only meant closed to those who didn't know what was really happening inside. Namely, humans who may just wander down the street and had no idea who really ran the Quarter and that she was taking counsel inside the bar.

Caroline stood behind the bar, pouring a shot for herself, not a trace of her attack on her body or mind visible. Aurora sat on the counter that took up most of the wall behind the bar, sipping a beer and Saoirse sat at the end with James. The gentleman watched the scene unfolding but his eyes flickered over to the solemn looking red head every few minutes, as if he was checking that she was still there and hadn't disappeared into thin air.

In front of the bar and scattered amongst the room, there were about twenty vampires and a few werewolves who'd just come for the fun of it; hoping for a guilty verdict and to see the aftermath. Everyone was chattering and talking to Caroline, trying to get their point across, which was the primary cause of the noise that filtered out into the street. Near the end of the bar were two vampires who were both shouting at each other and causing Caroline to roll her eyes as they tried to settle their arguments without using their fists or fangs.

"All right! All right!" Caroline yelled, downing the shot and leaving the empty glass on the bar as she called for silence. Most of the room fell silent at her command, but a few vampires were so incensed and passionate in their argument that they didn't hear the blonde's order. They were arguing over a matter of one vampire drinking from another's mate and vampires being a territorial sort in New Orleans that was enough reason to wish death or punishment on the offender.

Klaus had obviously disregarded the closed sign and walked into the bar to find the scene unfolding in front of him. He quickly closed the door to shut out the human world and lingered by it as Caroline tapped her fingernails on the wood, losing her patience. Everybody had failed to notice the new addition to this strange courtroom scene in the middle of a bar in New Orleans with Caroline as judge, jury and possibly executioner if they continued to ignore her.

"Hey!" Caroline slammed her hand on the bar so firmly that the wood creaked, a complete picture of authority and majesty. "See my lips moving and the words coming out? That means: I. Am. Talking!" All the guilty parties went quiet and muttered apologies. She nodded, accepting their apologies and poured another shot, her eyes flickering to meet Klaus' for a single second as she went to pour it down her throat. They hadn't spoken since he'd healed her and she knew that he was still looking for answers about her attack, and Caroline didn't want to give them.

"Sorry, Zach but regardless of whether you knew or not, you drank from Marie and she's under Alex's protection." Caroline announced with finality, pouring another shot as Klaus threaded his way through the crowd, eyes still on Caroline. She looked as if she was born to pass these kinds of judgements and rule. She also looked like she was trying to get so drunk that the buzz would last until Christmas. Klaus found himself standing next to Saoirse and James, smirking smugly when the red head locked eyes with him. She smiled half-heartedly back but it didn't reach her eyes. "And I'm really sorry, but you know the penalty."

At this announcement, the entire bar except Zach, a couple others and Caroline's friends cheered and hollered. A judgement had been passed. Now time to dish out the punishment. Klaus tilted his head in consideration and turned to Saoirse. "What's the penalty?" he asked, not sure what to expect from Caroline in terms of punishment. The red head just shook her head and crinkled her delicate little nose, her freckles crunching together as she did. James chuckled at her reaction and took a sip of his beer as Aurora reached up onto the top shelf of the bar and pulled a bottle of clear liquid down, unlabelled.

"It's not pleasant, that's what it is." Saoirse commented, shaking her head. "Caroline hates it, but this is the lowest punishments go. If they'd physically fought about it, it would have been much worse. At least Zach came quiet." Klaus blinked in surprise as Caroline pulled out a tumbler, her eyes apologetic and her body tense as she poured a half a glass. She almost winced as she handed it to Zach and instructed him to drink the whole lot. It suddenly hit Klaus like a ton of bricks what she asking of him and why Saoirse thought so little of it.

"Vervain." He spoke gently, James nodded.

"One glass, straight up. One of the only things Caroline didn't alter from Marcel's regime. She always thought the way he governed things was a little extreme, though she never said it to his face." he explained. Saoirse looked like she wanted to be sick as Zach held the glass close to his lips, staring into the liquid like it was poison, which it was to him. Caroline's brow was crinkled with worry as the rest of the bar cheered and waited with baited breath for justice to be done. Caroline poured a glass of whiskey and raised it in a toast to Zach, indicating that they would drink together. He nodded and reached over to clink his glass against hers before they both began to neck their drinks back.

Caroline finished hers and put her head back, eyes to the ceiling so she didn't have to watch Zach trying to keep the liquid down as it burned his throat. Klaus watched as the entire bar cheered, watching him struggle with his punishment. Klaus half expected the boy to pass out or spit it out but after a few moments, he put the empty glass on the table with a pained expression. Caroline smiled supportively and told him and his opponent that this issue was dealt with and any attempts to continue their dispute after this would get the same treatment.

"All right, show's over! Now clear out or buy a drink!" Aurora shouted, jumping down from the table and getting ready to serve. She flashed over to the door, changing the sign from closed to open as half of those who'd been watching cleared out and the rest waited for service. Caroline slipped out from behind the bar and went to a booth at the back, clutching half a bottle of whiskey in one hand and a full glass in the other, her eyes distant. She passed Klaus but didn't acknowledge him. She slipped into the booth and began to drink, radiating an aura of 'do not disturb'.

"Is something wrong?" He asked Saoirse and James, nodding to Caroline.

"She's just a little down, I suppose. She gets like this after anyone tries to hurt her, and they die as a result. She feels guilty, tries to figure out what she could have done differently or to stop it. She'll snap out of it in a few days. We just let her be." Saoirse explained calmly, picking at her nails as she spoke. Klaus tilted his head in response and the red head kept her head down. Humans and other supernatural customers were beginning to filter in from the street. The girl finished her drink and put the glass on the bar. "I need some fresh air. The smell of vervain makes me gag." She commented before beginning out the bar into the street.

James' eyes were still on the door that Saoirse had just disappeared out. He looked like he wanted to follow her but didn't. Klaus rolled his eyes, ordering a drink from Aurora as he sat at the bar. Like he'd told Caroline, watching love was like watching a show. Where it had once been an excitement to see, it had become degraded to the same two outcomes over the centuries. Love was a chase that ended in heartbreak or happiness.

"I'm going to go talk to Caroline." Klaus announced to James, popping his eyebrows as he took his drink from Aurora. "Out of curiosity, what are you still doing here? Go after her. If you're nearly 400 years old and still don't know when a girl wants to be followed, then no wonder you two are in some sort of lovers' stale mate." He added. James looked over with a cautious look. He didn't ask how Klaus knew his affairs of the heart, but he did take his advice and began after Saoirse. Klaus smirked. Part of him wanted James to follow the girl so he could watch another rendition of the play known as love, but most of him just wanted him out of the bar so he could talk to Caroline alone.

He began over to the booth, but before he could sit down, Caroline snapped at him. "Go away."

"You know I could never stay away from you, love." He smirked, sliding into the booth and taking a sip of his drink. Caroline looked at him venomously and filled her glass up once more. She sighed heavily and took a sip herself, her eyes distant like something else was on her mind. Klaus watched her mind go, unable to see what she was thinking and finding it infuriating that he couldn't get a read on her mind. "Besides, you and I need to talk about your attacker."

"Keep your voice down. I don't want anyone to know who doesn't need to." She hissed at him, looking at the bar of her loyal followers. Caroline downed her glass and left the empty one on the table, not instantly filling it up as she waited to see if anyone reacted to Klaus' words. When nobody did, she seemed to relax a little and leaned back into the leather of the booth.

"Why all the secrecy, hmm? Are you hiding something?" Klaus asked with a smirk.

"I don't have to stay here and listen to this." She snapped, slipping out the booth and beginning out of the bar. Determined to take his own advice, Klaus left his drink abandoned and followed her into the street. She was charging into the busy street, running her fingers through her hair with Klaus on her tail like he had been during the party. "Go away, or are you going to follow me wherever I go for eternity?" She called back, beginning into a quieter street.

"It seems when I don't, you get yourself attacked." He commented.

Caroline whirled around at that comment and smacked him right across the face. He blinked but didn't react any further. Had it been anyone else, he would have ripped their heart out then and there but he didn't move to hurt a hair on her head. She let out a frustrated sound and bunched her hair in one hand, before beginning to pace slightly. There weren't many people in this little side street they had moved into so she could act how she liked. "How dare you! I've gotten by in the last 150 years without you being here! I've got by just fine before you came into my life and after you went out of it, I did better than just get by!"

Klaus couldn't help but agree with her assessment. She was a Queen, no longer a princess or a damsel in distress. She had done more than just get by. Her rant continued as these thoughts ran through his mind. "I don't need you to fight my battles for me, Klaus! I don't need you to protect me; I don't need James to protect me! I can look after myself!" She yelled at him.

Klaus listened to her and arched an eyebrow. "And who is the opponent in this battle of yours?"

Where Caroline had been wild and responsive before he asked the question, she quickly shut down and became cold again. She took a deep breath and straightened her back. "I don't want to talk about it; it's a part of my life not worth talking about anymore, but tries its best to haunt me." She insisted, taking a seat on the bench. She wrapped her arms around herself and stared straight ahead, as if she was waiting for him to leave so she could break.

"You might feel better once you've talked about it." He commented, taking a seat beside her but still putting some distance between them. Caroline shook her head adamantly.

"I won't, I never feel any better when I think about it. I don't think that talking about it will help, it won't make anything better, and it won't change what's past. Talking about things won't make them go away; it'll just mean someone else knows what I did. Three is more than enough." She whispered sadly, staring straight. She was no longer the Queen of the Quarter; she was Caroline from Mystic Falls. Her strength from moments before had completely disappeared into the hot evening air. She shuddered slightly like a thought had scared her and Klaus crinkled his brow.

"Who already knows?" Klaus asked, before something clicked in his head. "Is this to do with Stefan and why you two no longer speak?" She looked over at him at the sound of Stefan's name and the look in her eyes was answer enough. He pursed his lips in thought and she seemed to break down and surrender. Klaus leaned back and waited. "Why are you and Stefan no longer speaking?" He asked her gently.

She took in a deep breath, like she'd been holding in what she was about to say for years. She probably had. Klaus waited, he didn't rush her. A tear slipped out her eyes and she ducked her head before she could speak. Klaus wanted to hold her close and wipe her eyes for her, but she didn't need that right now. She needed to say whatever it was that she was holding inside. Tears dripped onto the skin of her thighs that were left bare by her dress. Caroline tucked some hair behind her ear and took in another deep breath.

"I killed Elena. She didn't stake herself."

There was a long few moments of silence between the two of them before she began to ramble and rush an explanation to try and assuage her guilt. "She turned her humanity back on, and she was such a wreck. She wanted to die so badly, and the Salvatores thought they could fix her. They locked her in that room you kept her in during the hunter's cure and thought she would just get better if they let her cry it out. I went to visit her every day and she begged me each day to kill her or let her kill herself. She couldn't live with herself." Caroline took a breath and let a few more tears slip, Klaus just watching her as she spoke.

"I started to think about all the things she'd done with and without her humanity and in one weak moment, I decided that not only should she be allowed to die, but she deserved to die!" She whimpered like she was ashamed of herself. "So I staked her, she even whispered thank you as she died. But Damon walked in and saw me with my hand on the stake, wouldn't listen to my reasoning and told Stefan. Stefan tried to understand but he couldn't look me in the eyes, I killed the love of his life." Caroline whispered the last words.

"And Damon?" Klaus gently asked, though he'd already guessed the answer.

"He wouldn't listen to a word of it, he wanted me dead. He still does. He sends people to kill me because he knows that the moment he steps into New Orleans, he's a dead man." She murmured, wrapping her arms around her tighter. "When Stefan wouldn't let him kill me there and then, Damon threatened to kill my mother. He told me to get out of Mystic Falls before the day was out or he would kill everyone that mattered to me, starting with her so I left and came here. Marcel agreed to protect me." Caroline wiped her eyes.

Klaus sighed heavily, his fingers reaching out to brush some hair from her face. Caroline moved out of his reach almost instantly, like his touch burned her. "I knew I shouldn't have said anything." She grumbled, quickly getting up and disappearing down the street, probably to hide in her apartment and cry herself out. Klaus didn't follow, knowing she needed time alone with her thoughts and he was seeing red himself at the idea that Damon had tried to kill Caroline. Down the street, the blonde rushed away again from the hybrid and the guilty past she was attempting to outrun.

Klaus however knew you couldn't out run the past, no matter how fast you run.


	8. Part 8

**So, a variety of reactions from you guys on the big secret. Some were shocked, some thought it was ridiculous, some were underwhelmed. I respect all your opinions and urge you keep reading. But if you don't think this story is for you, then nobody is forcing you to read it. I know that this story is obviously anti-Damon and Elena, slightly anti-Stefan but as a writer, I thought Damon was not only the most valid, but the most interesting choice for a villain. Some are asking about Marcel and Stefan as the person trying to kill Caroline, even Tyler. And I thought about each of them before I landed on Damon but each of the other options had flaws in them and I thought Damon would be most interesting. I also didn't want to use an OC because I would not only have to create, I would have to sell this character to the readers and using a familiar character would make more interesting storyline.**

**Anyways, onwards and upwards with Chapter 8!**

* * *

Caroline slammed her door shut, still in tears, let out a shout of annoyance, and pent up guilt. She considered just letting herself fall onto her sofa and crying all night but despite her appearance she was not 18 anymore, nor was she in a Jane Austen novel. In a Jane Austen novel, she wouldn't have murdered her best friend because for a minute, she thought it was a good path to take and was blind to the future it would bring. That sounded more like a Shakespearean tragedy or something from Game of Thrones.

She walked over to the bar and plucked her full bottle of vodka off the shelf, uncapping it and taking a long swig. She couldn't count the amount of times she'd drunk to try and get rid of the guilt that ate her heart every day. Why did Klaus have to stick his nose in and make her spill it all out?

The more people who knew, the more who would know this secret of hers and judge her for it; she was not supposed to be the twisted killer, she was the one that held onto her humanity despite her age and nature. Whilst Klaus probably found it attractive in a woman that she had killed her best friend - the visual of her staking Elena would probably fill him with glee at her embracing her dark side, like Stefan had under his command- there were other people she never wanted to find out about this side of herself. Saoirse, James and Aurora would look at her differently if they knew she'd turned on her best friend so quickly.

She just wanted to forget, and downing the vodka would be a good place to start.

* * *

Klaus was more than furious. He wanted to find Damon Salvatore and pull his spine from his back, obliterate the bastard for the fear he'd instilled in Caroline. Or He wanted to yank his heart from his chest and leave the body to rot. It didn't help the older Salvatore's case that he'd been an arrogant child around Klaus in the brief time that they had known each other. Damon had tried to poison Caroline for something that had happened more than a century ago. Had Klaus not decided to come into the city days before, he didn't like to contemplate that path. Klaus closed his eyes and gritted his teeth. Caroline was long gone from the street though her presence always seemed to linger a little after she left him.

After a few minutes alone calming himself down, pacing and grumbling to himself about what he was going to do to Damon Salvatore, Klaus slowly walked back to the bar. James and Soairse were still nowhere to be found, probably having their own conversation in one of the many little streets that ran off the main street. Aurora sat in front of the bar, leaning over a text book and sipping coke from a glass bottle as she kept her eyes glued to the page. Business had died down in his absence, but the night would bring new patrons and victims.

Klaus let out another deep exhale, trying to calm himself of the fury boiling up inside at Damon Salvatore and his cowardly ways. Klaus wondered how many vampires Damon had been sent to their doom trying to kill his enemy. If the President flew in to New Orleans right now, Caroline would still be the most protected person in the city. Besides, presidents came and went, vampire Queens were forever. Klaus clenched his fist once, then unclenched it with a deep breath and began over to Aurora who didn't look up.

"Business slow?" He asked the bartender curiously. She looked up and made a face that depicted the expression: So-So. Aurora popped up from her chair, walked around the bar, fixing Klaus' usual order up without his asking, and slid it over to him. Klaus could say many bad things about Aurora and her nosiness, but she had a good memory. And keeping Klaus with a glass of liquor in his hand. No wonder this was the epicentre of supernatural activity. In the time it had taken to prepare his drink, Klaus had peered over at the textbook. "Studying something?" He asked.

Aurora's cheeks went red. Oh great, more secrets, Klaus thought to himself. He had only been New Orleans a few days and the amount of secrets he'd been made privy to was awfully high for someone as untrustworthy as him. She snapped the book shut. "I'm getting my GED. It was Caroline's idea; she thought that I could pass it no problem, but it turns out education has changed a lot since I was last in school." She admitted, adding a little chuckle. Klaus popped an eyebrow at this strange turn of events. He'd rarely met vampires that cared about their educational qualifications. She began to clean out some glasses and explained.

"I ran away from my home when I was a girl before I could finish school. I had this stepfather…awful guy, alcoholic, abusive. I went back years later and ripped his throat out." She told him a little shamefully, though Klaus had to say that he was taken aback by this news. Aurora reminded him of a lily flower, delicate and easily torn. The image of her being the littlest bit violent was not what he saw when he looked at her. But then again, he never imagined Caroline as Queen of New Orleans. "I came here to live with my grandmother…she was a witch under Marcel's regime. My grandmother warned me about talking to him, but when has a teenage girl ever done what's she told?" She asked with a small smirk that he recognised from women across the years.

"Marcel turned you?" He asked curiously, taking a sip. Aurora didn't speak or respond in any way, she just moved her book under the bar as the bar began to fill up. Klaus took that as a cue to stop before he had another crying woman to deal with. He'd never been good with crying women, especially his sister. They said that they wanted to be left alone, and then got angry when he did just that. They wanted to be held but he was not the holding sort. They thought they looked hideous but got offended when you offered a tissue or tried to take them out the public eye. They also liked to hit, as he'd learned with Caroline minutes before. He'd had enough of crying women for the day.

"Where did Caroline go?" Aurora asked in an attempt to distract him.

"She went home; she was a little upset so I decided to give her some space." He explained, finishing off his drink and letting Aurora top him up. He had no idea how much he spent in this bar but he imagined he'd paid Saoirse and Aurora's rent for the next month. That was provided that they actually paid rent at all.

"What did you do?" Aurora asked testily.

"I didn't do anything, I just spoke to her about a few things and she got herself into a state. Any suggestions on how to approach the situation?" That was a lie and he knew it. He knew that he'd pushed her into revealing her secret but he honestly didn't care.

Aurora sighed. "Look, against my better judgement and James' constant preachy voice in the back of my head, I like you. I think Caroline does too," she admitted, leaning on the bar with both hands and sighing heavily once more. She looked like she was deep in thought. "Right, Caroline goes to the gym in the mornings, especially if she had a bad night, beats the hell of a punch bag to get it out of her system. I would wait until after she's done; she'll be so tired that she'll be more pacified and easier to deal with." She advised.

Klaus smiled and raised his glass to toast her brilliance.

* * *

The next morning, Klaus came into the small boxing club Aurora had told him Caroline went to when she was stressed, and found her exactly how Aurora told him he would. She was beating the ever-living hell out of an old punch bag with her music blasting into her ears. She was wearing some skintight exercise leggings and a ratty old vest, her hair pulled up on her head. He contemplated coming back a little later when she didn't look so aggressive, but then he remembered that she couldn't possibly beat him and continued to lurk behind her.

She had her hands wrapped up in some strange white fabric like boxers usually did but it was clearly for the feel or show of it. The building was practically empty at this time of day, with only a caretaker on the second floor. He tilted his head as he watched her deliver a particularly harsh punch and the bag swung back a few feet, she sighed before she stopped it from swinging back and hitting her. She held it in both hands and paused.

Klaus guessed that she hadn't noticed him there yet as she pressed her forehead against the leather and sighed heavily like she was trying to suppress tears. He recognised the movement from years with Rebekah. What she'd confessed and kept secret for so long was obviously still weighing heavily on her mind. He imagined that yesterday had been the first time she'd ever confessed what she'd done aloud. Now it was beginning to dawn on her like the weight on the ocean crushing down on her and she needed to be released from her guilt.

And if guilt's name was Damon Salvatore, Klaus was more than happy to relieve her.

"Something on your mind, love?" She jumped up a little at the sound of his voice and plucked the headphones from her ears, still blasting music. Caroline threw the music player aside onto her open gym bag and stepped back to the mat.

"Let me guess, Aurora told you that I would be here and you've come to pry more information about what I did out of me?" She guessed wryly, taking a few odd punches at the bag. The fabric whined at each thrust, her fist smacking angrily against it like it was the face of her enemy. Klaus expected her to continue and build momentum, but she stopped and paused for a second, leaving one hand on the bag, as a thought seemed to occur to her. "I love that girl to death, but she doesn't know how to keep her trap shut sometimes. I can't complain, I was the same. Elena would tell me things and I'd go running straight to Matt or Bonnie; she would be so mad that-"

Klaus watched as she cut herself off and shook her head, going back to hitting the bag. "Love, if your issue is Damon Salvatore, then why not eliminate the issue? You have an army of vampires, werewolves…witches who would do it for you." He started as she began to hit the bag aggressively once more, ignoring the little noises that resembled groans she made every few punches. "Hell, I would do it for the satisfaction of seeing his face." He smirked.

"I can't kill him." She answered simply. "He hasn't done anything wrong."

Klaus growled low in his throat and stepped close to her. She stopped the bag as it had swung too far, once more and held it in both hands. His eyes were a few inches from her ear and her spine straightened like she'd been zapped with a bolt of electricity. "He chased you from your home, separated you from your mother and friends, forced you into a new city and has tormented you for 150 years, attempted to take your life again and again and again and all because you did the one thing your best friend asked for you…" He muttered, listing each one off slowly into her ear. She stared straight ahead and didn't look at him. "Tell me again that he's done you no wrong and I'll drop it." He swore softly.

Caroline gritted her teeth and tightened her hold on the punch bag. "He hasn't done anything w-wrong." She faltered in her reaffirmation and Klaus smirked.

"You want him dead too, admit it. Then it'll only be you and Stefan you know and let's face it, Stefan will never come close enough to you to tell anyone who cares enough about you to be shocked by your little secret." He whispered into her ear, tempting her with the idea of letting her avenge herself or even better, doing it himself. He smirked at the image of her ridding the world of Damon Salvatore. He could see tears welling up in her eyes. "This city is your home and you need it to be safe, you need to show people that you can defend it from people who want to take you from it or it from you." He told her stepping close still and moving to cup her shoulders with both hands.

She shook his hands off and puffed her chest up. "Says the person trying to take it from me himself, at least Damon doesn't want my power, he just wants my head. Besides, I don't want him dead. Stefan would just want to kill me more. He can forgive me for Elena, she was suicidal and didn't know what she wanted but Damon is the opposite of that. Stefan would never forgive me, he would rip my heart out if he thought for a second I had anything to do with Damon's death. I just need to be more ahead of him next time and know when to get out of town or barricade myself in. Damon isn't going to die by my watch." She told him, throwing a few more punches at the bag. Klaus stepped back to make room for her and walked around her like she was a museum piece, looking over at her bag where her phone was sitting open.

"Caroline? How long are you going to be? I need to clean up before the boxers come in to train…," shouted a janitor from the door, poking his head around the door to shout at the blonde. Caroline turned to deal with the caretaker, and Klaus took the chance to take her phone from the top of her bag. If there was any way of finding Damon Salvatore, this phone might bring him closer to it. He tucked it into his jacket pocket as Caroline turned back, unwrapping her hands.

"I'm going now. I'm meeting Saoirse anyways. Just drop it, forget I told you. Anyways, if Damon kills me, it's beneficial to you and your plans." She snapped, going to grab her bag and beginning out of the room.

Klaus followed her out as she wrapped the headphone wires around her music player and tucked it into her bag, hands behind his back and watching the blonde intently as she zipped up her bag, obviously not having noticed her missing phone.

"Letting Damon Salvatore bump you off would be a cheap and hollow way of taking the city." He admitted as she pushed the door open and they walked into the New Orleans air, the sun was just beginning to rise over the buildings and light up the streets. "Love, believe me when I say that I would take great pleasure in taking Damon Salvatore's life from him and letting him join Elena on the other side. Once he's there they can torment each other for all eternity." He reaffirmed lightly, waving his hand lightly to emphasise how little he cared about the matter.

She looked at him with cold eyes. "You may not like it, but I'm the one in charge. As long as Damon Salvatore is outside of New Orleans, he won't come to any harm because of me. Leave him alone or you'll face the same penalty as any supernatural that comes into the city limits and commits a crime." She threatened lowly; her majesty and authority seeping into her tone and making Klaus feel like she was serious and that she would make him suffer if he disobeyed. But he was the hybrid and bowed to nobody, not even the beautiful and queenly Caroline Forbes. "Am I clear?"

"Crystal." He promised softly. "Damon will not come to harm outside the city limits."


	9. Part 9

**Hello all! Here's chapter 9, not much to say. I'm enjoying the reviews and everyone's opinions. There's this one guest reviewer who I'd love to have a natter with because they have a lot of opinions that I would love to discuss with them, but that's what guest reviews are for: anonymity. I respect that but please all my readers feel free to come into my inbox or leave a review signed in so I can talk with them if they have any questions about the fic. Other than that, please keep them coming, I'm astounded with the amount of reviews, alerts and favourites this story has. ****Also, some people are asking for the pronunciation of Saoirse and lots of people telling me what a pretty name it is and where I got it from. Saoirse is pronounced 'Sear-sha' and it's an Irish name meaning 'freedom'. I admittedly got it from the actress Saoirse Ronan, most known for The Lovely Bones and The Host. **

**Sadly, this is the last chapter that will be posted before the 21st of July as I'm going on a trip with my family but my queue on Tumblr will have some previews and maybe a coda or two to keep you guys sated until then. **

**Onwards then!**

* * *

"He turned up to your gym?" Saoirse asked as the pair were handed their coffee drinks by a waiter whilst Caroline recounted what she'd just experienced with the hybrid. They did this all the time, found a little coffee shop and discussed the current issues of Caroline's rule. Saoirse would always be her advisor; she was much wiser than Aurora and less hot headed than James. James was a soldier by nature, Saoirse was a scholar. Caroline leaned back in her armchair seat and groaned, taking a sip of her drink. "Does he know?"

"Know what?" Caroline looked up, her blonde hair moving quickly with the movement. Saoirse gave her a meaningful look and took a sip of her own drink, one of her eyebrows arched. Today, her hair was loose around her face again, a clear change from her usual ponytail or plait.

"That you didn't come here for Marcel's protection at all? That you were looking for Klaus instead? That you spent the first few months wallowing because you couldn't find him?" Saoirse teased her lightly. Caroline didn't find it funny; she just took a long sip of her drink and sighed heavily. It was true. She had come to New Orleans looking for Klaus, when she found Marcel instead; she didn't know what to do. She was alone, she had no allies, she needed protection desperately and Marcel's arms were open. She had stumbled into New Orleans and before she knew what was happening, it was her home. She had friends and allies.

"No, and I'm not telling him. You're the only person who knows, Saoirse. You were the first person beside Marcel to treat me like a friend, you're the one I stayed with and you're the one who supplied the junk food and booze for my whining even though you had no idea what or who I was talking about." Caroline took another sip and stared into the black coffee in her mug. "You're the only one I trust with it. James is too protective and Aurora is a blabbermouth. She would have told Klaus once he'd got a drink in her. I didn't even tell Marcel, only the Heavens know what he would have said. Klaus will have a fucking field day." She sighed.

"Caroline, admit it. You're happy that he's sticking around, not matter how much you're trying to be the Ice Queen. You missed him." Saoirse chuckled, smirking and tucking some of her red hair behind her ear as she did so. She picked up some sugar and poured it into her mug, beginning to stir it into her brew. Caroline kept hers black and sugarless.

"Whatever, you're in love with James." Caroline teased back.

"You bitch!" Saoirse squirmed uncomfortably, but smiled none the less as the girls continued to tease each other about their own love lives. They drank their coffees and Saoirse ordered a piece of chocolate cake. It wasn't for another half an hour that Caroline began to dig around in her bag for something, becoming more and more frantic with her search. "What's wrong, Caroline?" She asked, furrowing her brow. The blonde looked up at the red head.

"My phone's gone."

* * *

Klaus was right. After very quickly finding out that the pass code for Caroline's phone was her birthday, he searched through her contacts and most recent texts. There was a short conversation with Saoirse about meeting at a coffee shop, some from James about some nightwalkers, but it was a conversation with a girl called Indira about the very man Klaus was looking for that caught his attention. He read through the conversation in his hotel room, the texts were cryptic but not an un-crack able correspondence about Damon's location since the attack.

He decided to meet this Indira woman, she seemed like his ticket to a conversation with Damon Salvatore. He resorted to texting her with Caroline's phone to request a meet up, as soon as possible. The response was almost instant to give her a place and a time. Klaus smirked and text back to meet in the hotel bar in half an hour, giving an excuse that she wanted something out of the way from the supernatural community. She took the bait and replied that she was on her way.

Klaus threw the phone onto his bed sheets and went to take a shower. There was only one chance to make a first impression on this Indira girl after all. He was three minutes late to his meeting with the girl despite the fact he only had to step into the elevator and press a button to get to the bar. The bar was relatively empty as it was only early morning and most people staying here had more class than to drink before noon, except for brunch. He scanned the room and very easily found his target sitting at the bar with a beer.

He began over as the brunette haired girl took a deep sip of beer, her phone sat on the side of the bar. Klaus put on his smirk and approached the girl. "Are you Indira?" He asked her with a voice that told the girl that he knew that she was Indira. She looked up innocently and nodded cautiously. Klaus smiled and extended his hand, which she gladly shook. "Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Klaus."

Indira's face went whiter than a sheet and her hand went stiff in his grip before she retracted it like she might catch the plague from his touch. Klaus smirked once more as realisation dawned on her face that she had been played.

"Caroline's not coming, is she?" The girl asked once slowly, her voice hollow. Klaus shook his head once, with his trademark smirk still in place. "What have you done to her?" She asked in an accusatory tone.

"I haven't done a thing. Because of me, Caroline lived through the weekend." He replied like he was offended. Klaus signalled to the bartender for a scotch though it felt weird to be in a bar that wasn't Aurora's after so much time spent in there the last few days. Indira furrowed her brow cautiously and became closed in on herself as if that would protect her from him. The bartender handed him his drink and Klaus took a sip, waiting until the barman was out of earshot before continuing. "I just want one thing in return for your life, Indira, it's a simple request. I'm pretty sure that you can complete it for me, no problem."

"And what's that? I won't hurt Caroline." She commented.

"Did I say anything about hurting Caroline? You shouldn't assume, it's rude." Klaus commented, eyeing the increasingly defensive brunette with a smirk as he swirled his drink. She sighed and told him to go on, though she was cautious in her body language and voice. "I want to find and talk to Damon Salvatore, that's all. I know you know where he is. I also know that you were going to tell Caroline and have been telling her for many years now. Now, you can tell me now or I can cut out of your tongue and then you can write it down." He told her firmly.

Why do you want to know where Damon Salvatore is?" She asked, tucking some hair behind her ear.

"That's my business and none of your concern." He told the girl in a snap.

Indira nodded shakily, pulling a napkin from the small dispenser and a pen from her handbag. She began to scribble down some numbers haphazardly whilst Klaus watched over, taking another sip of his drink. It was a phone number, he realised after a few moments. She pushed the napkin into his hands and gathered her stuff. "That's his number and his last address, but it's in New York and he's currently staying outside New Orleans.

"If this information is false, or you tell anyone alive or dead about this conversation, I'll find you wherever you run and no matter what protection you find for yourself. With that in mind, are you sure that you don't want to make any amendments?" He asked, holding out the napkin for the girl to stare at. She shook her head firmly and he believed her, bidding her goodbye and allowing the blonde to hurry out of the bar like a scared rabbit.

Klaus didn't waste any time dialling the number from his phone, it rang three times and then the connection tone clicked. "Hello?" It was Damon's voice alright. Klaus smirked and ordered another drink; he would need one for a conversation with the older Salvatore brother.

"Long time, Damon."

"What do you want, Klaus?" His voice dripped with annoyance from the other end of the line. Klaus rolled his eye and took a sip of his drink.

"I wanted to make a proposition for you. I heard about your…shall we say feud with Caroline, and I thought that we could scratch each other's backs." Klaus commented coolly, swirling his drink and sitting at the barren bar. The Salvatore paused before asking what he meant by that. "It's rather simple really. I want what she has, you want her dead. If she's dead, you're happy and I can take New Orleans with little to no issue before any pretenders can swoop in and take the crown. I can get you into the city and you can kill her." He promised.

There was a long pause on the other end of the line, probably Damon salivating over the image of yanking Caroline's heart from her chest. Klaus smirked at his silence. "Interested?" He asked in his all-knowing tone.

"I thought you were sweet on that blonde vampire slut?"

"150 years is a long time, Damon and New Orleans is a power seat that I would sacrifice a lot for to regain. A girl who once held my interest is of little consequence to me." Klaus replied coolly, already knowing exactly what to say to get Damon where he needed him.

"How do I know I can trust you?" Damon asked. Klaus wanted to laugh but just smirked. They both knew that he couldn't and wouldn't.

"As long as you end up with your lost love avenged, does it matter who you trusted along the way? Now, meet me at midnight at the city limit if you're interested in helping me help you." Klaus commented, before hanging up. Having the last word would drive Damon Salvatore crazy and he would be there, it was a done thing.

Klaus smirked and finished off his second drink.

* * *

Damon was waiting at the border when Klaus arrived in his car at exactly midnight. He still wore the leather jacket but his hair was a little shorter, but other than that, he was an unchanged man on the surface. Klaus knew that he was heartlessly cold underneath, hardened by heartbreak and a smirk grew of his own accord as he opened the car door, slid out and slammed it shut. The Salvatore automatically opened his mouth. "You're late." He quipped, his voice uneven.

Klaus raised an eyebrow. "And you're impatient." He replied.

Damon Salvatore didn't flinch, he did look impatient, anxious, excited even. But there was an element to him that seemed unstable to Klaus, crazy. There was grief and insanity that was bubbling at the surface, invisible to anyone who wasn't half crazy themselves. Thankfully, Klaus was completely clinically insane and he knew that. He could spot a 100 year mental breakdown from a mile away, and Damon Salvatore was a therapist's wet dream.

Damon shrugged his shoulders and looked around the both of them as if to check that Klaus hadn't been followed or there wasn't anything hiding in the bushes. Of course, Klaus knew that to be a conspirator, you had to be paranoid and Damon Salvatore had had 150 years for it to set in. Being so close to what he wanted in such a short space of time would definitely set alarm bells ringing for that part of his brain, but Klaus knew the bloodlust would drown it out.

"I've been waiting a century and a half for my chance to yank Blondie's heart out. I don't really want to wait any longer." Damon explained himself in a quick, unsteady voice. Klaus smirked, taking a few steps closer to the vampire who hovered on the invisible border line that surrounded New Orleans, like he would be burnt alive if he stepped forward too far into New Orleans. He was dancing on the edge of the territory he was exiled from for Caroline's protection. "Let me ask you something, if you want her dead, why save her the other day? My werewolf had the chance to shift the blame off the both of us. Better yet, why not kill her yourself?" He commented suspiciously.

Klaus had already worked up an excuse to appease this question should it come up. He smirked and stepped closer still. "If I killed her, her loyal followers would never follow me, and that would be just as useless as not having the throne at all." He told him firmly as Damon continued to pace slowly but with a crazy pace. "I saved her to gain her trust and to gain her friends' trust; she has this rather annoying body guard who knew that I would try and hurt her, so I saved her from a painful and awful death to throw him off. That way, I can sneak you passed them without much suspicion and get you and Caroline alone."

There was a pause between the two before Damon smirked at the visual, his eyes crazy with bloodlust. He was definitely a changed man from the Damon Klaus remembered. "Once you've had your fun, you can disappear and I'll have an alibi of being with them all evening." He explained, brushing an imaginary piece of lint of his sleeve.

"Just as diabolical as I remember you, Klaus." Damon commented with an almost respecting smirk. The hybrid smirked back and kept it there as the pair stood a few feet away from each other in some strange, untrusting stand-off. "How do I know you won't throw me to the wolves? Both figuratively and literally." He asked.

Klaus chuckled at the analogy and shrugged his own shoulders. "How do I know you'll get it done in the first place? We're working on an uneasy trust because our wants benefits the other. I want her throne and you want her head. Once we have what we want, we'll go back to our previous state of not talking and forgetting the others' existence. Of course, I'll only enlist your services if this is what you really want. Whoever kills her will have some enemies, no matter how well they cover their tracks." He added slowly.

"Are you kidding? I wanted her dead the moment I saw her over Elena's body. But Saint Stefan had to believe her cock and bull story about Elena actually wanting to be dead…" Damon sighed angrily and paced a little, throwing his hands up in the air. Klaus watched him step back and forth, never really crossing into New Orleans. The fear of what would happen when he did was obviously instilled deep into his subconscious. "I knew that she was lying from the moment it left her mouth. Elena told me that she wanted to be with me the day before, and the next day she wants to be dead? Doesn't add up, and I know Elena better than she ever did." He rambled.

Klaus' smirk fell. "Really? You honestly believe that you knew Elena better after a year of knowing her better than the girl that grew up with her?" He asked, his whole manner changing from friendly conspirator to captor. Damon didn't clock onto it the first few seconds in his occupied mind but soon he stopped pacing and kept his head down at the floor.

"I did. I also told Elena from the start that Caroline needed to be taken care of when Katherine turned her, but she didn't listen to me and that Barbie bitch turned on her and killed her in cold blood." Damon talked in a terse voice, gritting his teeth as he did. Klaus lifted his head slightly and popped his eyes, a light breeze blowing across the two men as they continued to talk in the dead of night. Crickets chirped in the distance and the heat was still present even in the dark midnight. "I'm more than ready and willing to do this, Klaus. So just get me close enough to rip her heart out and I'll get you that crown." He told her.

Klaus smirked cruelly when Damon made this vow. "Sadly for you, you've forgotten one very crucial detail about me." He commented before reaching out and grabbing Damon's throat in one hand. The vampire tensed and put his hands on the hybrid's wrist in an attempt to twist it and get him out of Klaus' grip. He brought the vampire closer so their faces were closer. "I don't care about you and your mission to avenge that doppelganger brat. She and that brother of hers slaughtered my brother in cold blood and thousands died with him. Caroline made the right choice by putting her out of her misery because if I'd ever run across her again, I would have done far worse." He whispered.

He tightened his grip on Damon's throat and the vampire groaned loudly in pain, unable to speak though it seemed like he was trying to say something. "Hmm? What was that? I didn't quite catch that." Klaus asked in a voice of false concern, relinquishing his hold on Damon's flesh for a few seconds to let him gasp for air and speak.

"Oh, you're exactly how I remember you, Klaus." Damon wheezed. "Giving up everything for that blonde bitch."

Klaus' eyes went cold and the force around Damon's throat returned. He brought Damon closer and closer still to his face to whisper the last words he would ever hear again. "Tell Elena I said hello." He whispered bitterly. He wasted no time in shoving his hand between Damon's ribs, grabbing his heart and ripping it from his chest. The vampire went limp in Klaus' grip and the hybrid unceremoniously dropped him to the ground, dead. He sighed and discarded the heart next to him.

Klaus wiped his bloody hand on Damon's shirt and clicked his tongue, wondering whether he should bother dealing with the body at all. Either way, he had brought some cheap whiskey to burn the body if needs be and had taken a few swigs on the way. He sighed after staring at the body for a few minutes, turning the body over with his foot. Klaus turned back to go retrieve the whiskey from his car and his lighter.

And stopped dead.

Leaning against his car with one hand, in a leather jacket and dress with a look that could kill, was Caroline Forbes. Her nails rapped angrily against the paintwork of his car and her chest heaved angrily as the tension built between them. He didn't know how much she had seen, but he knew that she had definitely seen him put Damon to death. "So…." She started her voice vicious.

"So…." Klaus repeated, popping one eyebrow.


	10. Part 10

**I'm home early! And that means you lot get chapter 10 just that little bit earlier. I would have posted earlier but I had to get my life together after cutting my holiday short, and get Chapter 11 drafted before I could post this. Now that's done, we can get down to business. Thank you guys for giving me 200 reviews in just 9 chapters, that's absolutely mind blowing and I couldn't be happier with the response that I'm getting. It always brings a smile on my face to know you're all enjoying this story. **

**Onwards!**

* * *

"You know that you can track your phone from your computer?" She asked rhetorically, arching an eyebrow at him. Klaus didn't speak, only arched one brow back like he was interested in this anecdote. She leaned back on the car and crossed her arms across her chest. Klaus had seen Caroline angry before, but this wasn't the same. This was the fury of someone whose orders had been ignored. Klaus knew that fury all too well and he knew that if she had the capability or the lack of empathy, she would have ripped his heart out by now.

"Is that how you knew that I was here then?" He asked, already knowing the answer but going through the motions with the blonde.

Caroline pushed herself off the car and began to approach him slightly, her heels not sinking into the bone-dry dirt of the roadside as she walked. "I've had someone watching you since this afternoon, it seemed that you weren't doing anything but I had a feeling that you didn't just happen to take my phone by accident. It wasn't until you started out here that I decided to see what you were up to and why you stole my phone."

"You mean this phone?" Klaus asked, pulling the device out his pocket and throwing it to the girl in one swift motion. She caught it easily and began to search through it for something. Whilst she did that, Klaus turned back to see the body was still where he'd left it and his eyes scanned the area for someone like James or another one of Caroline's loyal subjects. But somehow he knew she had come alone. She'd feared this outcome from Klaus.

"What did you do to Indira?" She asked him in an interrogation.

"Hmm?" Klaus turned back to the girl nonchalantly and began towards her. She held up the screen for him to read the text log, which detailed his conversation with Indira earlier that day that lured her to the hotel bar. "Nothing, sweetheart. I did nothing to sweet little Indira, beside give her a fright. I just needed her to divulge me some information to make tonight possible." He asked. Caroline made an annoyed sound and slipped her phone into her jacket pocket.

Caroline didn't speak again, she walked straight past Klaus and over to the body of Damon Salvatore, combing both of her hands through her blonde hair as she looked down on him. She looked forlorn and mournful; Klaus watched her as she walked once around the body and ran the hand down her face at the stressful situation. "Do you even know what you've done?" She hissed at him. "Do you even realise that you've taken a target off my back to put another one on there? Only this time, it's bigger and in neon lights?"

"Do you ever stop to think that you're a bit of a drama queen?" He asked in retort.

"I'm the drama queen? You're the one who just yanked someone's heart because they were about to take the chance to kill me away from you!" Caroline made the sound of annoyance once more and stalked past him, running her hands through her hair once more and tugging lightly on the blonde curls. Klaus watched her go and growled low.

"You think this about that anymore?" He asked.

"If it's not, then, please enlighten me as to your mystery reason for any of this, Klaus, because I have no idea why you would possibly want to kill Damon Salvatore, he was handing you my heart and my power on a plate. I was 100 feet away during your conversation; I saw it all." Caroline hissed at him, waving her arm in the direction she had come from. Klaus didn't want to admit that he hadn't realised she'd been that close to him this whole time. She'd seen the whole thing from a distance, but he doubted that she'd heard the words spoken.

"This is not about wanting to kill you myself! You put those words in my mouth; I had no idea that you were the one in charge of New Orleans until I turned up in your apartment. My plans changed the instant I saw your face again." He insisted. Caroline paused in her pacing to take those words in and looked away into the trees that sat either side of the road, deep in thought. "This is about the fact that you shouldn't have to put these walls of solitude up to protect yourself from anyone, you've alienated and cut yourself off for 150 years because of Damon Salvatore of all people! You were better than him, and you lowered yourself to a refuge by coming to find Marcel's protection."

"I did what I had to to survive!" She snapped back. "A concept I imagine is familiar to you."

"Yet you wouldn't kill the one trying to kill you?" Klaus questioned.

"I didn't want any more blood on any one's hands because of this, because of my mistake. Eight vampires and one werewolf died because they wanted to try their luck and kill me. I killed three of them, in cold blood and I snapped that werewolf's neck without a seconds' hesitation. Those people are dead because of me! I'm not like you, I can't live with that." She shouted at him, putting a hand on her chest as she did so. Her eyes welled up.

"Now there will be no more blood." Klaus told her simply. "Nobody else is going to die because of what happened, you can move on."

"You seem to forget that Damon has a little brother who loved him, a little brother that will probably find out within the next seventy-two hours that his brother is dead and put two and two together. Stefan will not forgive this; he'll blame me no matter whose hands Damon's blood is on. Damon would not have been here if I hadn't killed the love of his life. I will be responsible for this in Stefan's eyes." She told him, tears slipping from her eyes. "The next time blood is shed over this, it'll be mine."

"You're in your home turf. You were under Marcel's protection and now you're under your own. If you don't want Stefan in the city limits, he won't be." Klaus reminded as she wiped her eyes furiously with her fingertips. "I can't say much about Marcel, but he protects those who deserve it and he may a good choice in choosing to protect you. You took a risk and it paid off."

"I didn't come here for Marcel's protection." She muttered furiously. She sighed heavily, her chest heaving as she tried to calm down. "Seeing as I'm going to die soon, I might as well as confess this….I didn't come for Marcel's protection, came here for yours."

"What?" Klaus asked her in a surprised voice at this admission.

"I didn't know who Marcel was when I left Mystic Falls! I came here because you told me that's where you were going. When I got here, you were long gone and nobody knew where you'd had disappeared. I knew that you would protect me if I asked; that you wouldn't judge me. I came looking for you but you weren't there when I needed you!" Caroline shouted at him. Klaus had been well and truly silenced by this confession. The blonde wiped her eyes once more and sighed heavily. "And now, I don't need you anymore, and you can't accept that so you created a bigger mess by trying to clean up mine!" She hissed.

"You know what your problem is, O fearless leader?" Klaus asked calmly, as he stepped towards Caroline slowly. The blonde eyed him and put her head in her hands for a few seconds only to run her fingers back through her hair again. "Your problem is you may think that you don't need anyone to look after you, Caroline, but you do need someone in your life. You may have friends and a life that looks like you're not alone, but you've hidden yourself away and made yourself lonely for fear of what would happen to you if you didn't."

Klaus knew this better than anyone. He'd done the same thing. He'd played the part of a man who was happy with his friends when inside, he was empty and scared of his father. Caroline had placed herself in a position of power and protection then become cold, though her emotions were raw and grated through the years from her solitude. It wore you down and made you tired. It would seem never ending to Caroline the same way that it had seemed never ending to Klaus.

As he spoke, Klaus walked closer and closer to the blonde. His words messed with her head; there was no doubt about it. He could see the cogs turning in her brain. Soon they were inches apart and her breath brushed his cheek softly. Everything he said was true and they both knew it. "You're lonely, you're playing a part." He whispered softly, almost seductively. Klaus and Caroline were now more the same than ever.

Caroline's eyes softened for a second and confirmed what he already knew. She took in a deep, jagged breath and her eyes glance downwards to avoid his all-knowing glare. Klaus smirked at her silence, her admission of guilt. "I'll bet that seeing me wasn't the inconvenience you were pretending it to be. I'll bet part of you wanted me to get rid of Damon. That's why you told me. That's why you didn't approach me the moment you figured out that I had your phone. You want someone to care about you enough to do all this." Klaus muttered gently.

Her eyes went steely once more and she stepped back from him, regaining her personal space and pushing past him. Klaus watched her go and stand over by the body of her sire, crossing her arms once more. She ducked her head like she was taking a moment of silence to mourn him. She ran a hand over her face once more before beginning past the hybrid once more, who watched her go.

"Where are you going, love?" He called her.

"Home. To try and enjoy what time I have left before Stefan shows up with a stake!" She shouted back, storming off down the road Klaus had driven down. Klaus watched her go and stalk off before turning back to the body he'd been saddled with. He sighed heavily, ran a hand through his hair and was instantly glad that he'd brought a shovel. If Caroline found out that Klaus just burnt Damon's body and left it on the roadside, she would probably castrate him.

* * *

In the centre of New Orleans, Aurora was sitting in her relatively empty bar. Today, business had been slow and she was deciding to close up early. Saoirse had disappeared off earlier in the night and James had gone to meet some friends, a fact that Aurora found hard to believe because though James said he had other friends, she never saw them. Aurora knew the pair was probably in some hotel room in the throes of passion and trying to cover it up. She clicked her tongue and swayed her hips with the slow music on the speaker system as she collected empty glasses.

Aurora wanted nothing more than a good night's sleep and a hot cup of tea now. Sometimes she just didn't want to have a bar anymore, but this place was her baby. She thought about selling out, but she would miss it too much. She was used to this life. Aurora hummed along with the music, a record from her youth that she played nearly every day to remind herself of her human days.

She didn't register the door opening and closing because she was used to its swinging back and forth on its hinges all day whilst she served the supernatural of New Orleans. There were a couple vampires talking lowly in the corner over some beers, nightwalkers for sure. A cramming student was studying at one of the tables with her third cup of coffee. Aurora plucked an empty beer bottle from the table and popped it in the box she was carrying full of empties. It was near full from her earlier swell of business where she'd been too busy to clean up.

"Need a hand with that?" Aurora nearly dropped the box at that voice.

* * *

Caroline arrived home and went straight to bed, not even bothering to change into her night wear or get more comfortable. She stripped off her jacket, kicked off her dusty heels and fell onto the bed in her dress. She turned onto her back and stared at the ceiling. Klaus' words still played on her mind, not only because they hurt but because they were true.

She needed someone in her life. She knew she had Saoirse, James and Aurora and they were true friends to her, but she needed someone she could be completely honest with. She needed someone who she could share with her inner most and darkest thoughts without fear of judgement or rebuttal. Someone who knew her completely and would not turn on her for being whom she was, even when she turned on herself.

Was that person Klaus of all people? She had never felt so similar to someone before in her life than she did today when he described her emotional solitude for the last 150 years. He knew from experience what that was like. He knew the idea of being scared for hundreds of years, looking over your shoulder and never feeling safe. He'd rid her of what she feared, had that really been a gesture of kindness from his twisted point of view?

Not to mention Caroline knew that she'd felt something for him all those years ago. She couldn't explain itself or understand it herself but she knew that she felt something. Could those feelings come back? Could she rekindle that flame that she'd thought she'd snuffed out 150 years ago when she'd been disappointed by him in the worst possible way? Had she even blown it out at all? She couldn't remember the last time she'd been excited to see someone than the moment she'd realised Klaus was in her apartment after all this time, but she'd hidden behind her cool exterior like she had for a 150 years ago.

Caroline ran her hand down her face. She felt so drained. She felt tired for the first time in weeks, she had been a lit up firecracker for months now, high on her life here. Power and laughter were the drugs that she'd been favouring for 150 years now but now she was coming down quickly and it wasn't pretty. Now she was emotionally and physically drained but couldn't fall asleep and get some release from this feeling.

Part of her knew that she would be dead in the next few days. Stefan would come for her. Someone had to pay for all these deaths. Tomorrow she would go see her friends and spend as much time as she could with them. She would make sure they knew what to do with New Orleans; she would make sure that they knew that she loved them.

Caroline sighed heavily. Would she plead with Stefan for her life? Would she stay in the protection of James or would she let this end with her death? What would Klaus do when she was dead?

The blonde groaned at the thought of the hybrid and turned onto her front, burying her head into her pillows and closing her eyes shut. She didn't need to think about it. Stefan might let her explain, might let her tell him that she had nothing to do with it. He might not even come at all. Caroline could only hope but she knew that Stefan would want answers, and they were answers that only she and Klaus could give. He deserved those answers.

It had been hours since Caroline had first fallen into bed when she heard her door open slowly. It was way past the middle of the night, closer to the sunrise than the sunset. The lack of heels clicking against the floor meant it wasn't Saoirse or Aurora, both of whom were never out of heels. James would have shouted her name before he started into the apartment to give Caroline time to make herself presentable, a gentleman at heart. She furrowed her brow and sat up, reaching one hand into her bedside table to get the stake that she kept there, the same one she'd grabbed to defend herself from Klaus.

Caroline slowly stepped out of bed, one hand clenched around the stake. Her bare feet pressed against the floor and she swallowed thickly. She pushed her bedroom door open and peered her head around the opening it allowed. There was a silhouette in her living room, nobody that she recognised from their figure alone. They were looking through her books curiously, the light flooding in from the city lights keeping their features elusive. Caroline knew only one thing: This was not Klaus paying her another visit. There was someone in her apartment.

She tightened her grip around the stake and waited until the interloper turned away from her doorway before she flashed herself over to them and stuck the stake's point against their back. They instantly put their hands up, but only to reach behind her and grab her arms. The figure, a male figure, yanked and twisted Caroline so she fell onto her back on the floor. She didn't give them time to grab the stake she'd been forced to relinquish and kicked them square in the face. There was a loud crack of a nose breaking. They recoiled back, grabbing their nose as the smell of blood wafted through the air. The intruder staggered back a few steps.

"Ow! Jesus, Caroline! I was only messing with you, princess." The voice exclaimed. Caroline's eyes widened and she popped her head up. She knew that voice. There was only one person in the world that called her princess.

"Marcel?"


	11. Part 11

**Another week, another chapter! And I can tell from the reviews that everyone was excited to see Marcel join the fray, but also a little suspicious and wary. Well, enjoy the newbie to the story and don't worry, some big chunks of Klaroline are planned to be coming up in the next few chapters or so, so hold on to your hats. Once again, thank you for all the amazing reviews, 250+ in just ten chapters is absolutely amazing! I love to hear your responses and keep 'em coming. **

* * *

Caroline sighed and grabbed two beers from her fridge, popping the cap off both and turning to the vampire sitting on her couch holding his bloody nose. Marcel's hands were covered in his own blood as his nose tried to stitch itself back to health. She sighed and walked over to him, handing him a beer which he took with his free hand. "Seriously, when did you get such a kick in you, princess?" He commented, taking a sip of the beer.

"Oh, stop whining. I didn't hit you that hard. It'll be good as new in five minutes." Caroline replied in a snap, taking a sip of her beer as she stood over him. "In the meantime, I'm going to tell you about the amazing advancements in communication in technology, allowing us to tell our friends that we're about to break into their apartments in the middle of the night." She added smarmily. Marcel looked up at the girl with an eye roll and sip of his beer.

"What were you thinking? I could have killed you!" Caroline exclaimed.

"I was messing with you, princess. Didn't realise you'd let your paranoia get the better of you without me here to protect you." He replied as she sat down next to him on the sofa and propped up her feet. Caroline rolled her eyes and took another long sip of her beer. The vampire sat next to her noticed her lack of playfulness and response to his banter and furrowed his brow. "What's got you down, Caroline?" He asked her in a semi concerned voice. Marcel didn't do full on worry like Saoirse and James did. He was more relaxed than that.

"One word. Klaus."

Marcel sighed in understanding. "Ah. I know that tune." He commented. "About that, princess…" He trailed off.

"What?" She asked him, furrowing her brow and looking over at her old vampire mentor; he looked at his lap and fiddled with the label of his bottle. He looked almost…guilty. Marcel had something playing on his mind, something he wanted to get off his chest. "What?" She asked more testily, a few ideas coming to her head about what had prompted such an emotion in Marcel. His eyes shifted guiltily a few times, making the suspicion tenser for the blonde sitting next to him. He still didn't respond so she began more nervous and tense in her words. "Marcel, tell me." She commanded, her queenly nature coming through.

"Caroline, I think you shattered the bone…I have had my nose broken multiple times over the years, but never in my life has it hurt like this." He commented, probing his nose with two fingers. It was still healing, that much was obviously from the way Caroline could see the bone jutting out unnaturally. Caroline grumbled and stood up.

"And it'll hurt much more if you don't tell me why you looked guilty just then. You _never_ look guilty and you're my friend. That means you should be honest with me, even if I might punch you in the face when you tell me. So I'll ask again. What. Is. It?" She hissed, taking another sip of her beer. He sighed and leaned forward, his broken nose forgotten as he took another sip of his own drink.

"I sent Klaus here. He and I were in London talking about our time here, and he mentioned in passing about wanting to come back and take New Orleans, so I told him about you, no names or anything like that, just that there was someone ruling this place now. I didn't think he meant now! I thought he meant in a century's time, enough time to get you out of here and safe. But he was on the next flight before I could find out where he was going." Marcel confessed, standing up and half pacing as he explained what had him looking like he'd signed Caroline's death certificate.

If Caroline hadn't known Klaus a century and a half ago, he would have.

Caroline's chest heaved half in relief, half in frustration and she fell back onto the couch. Caroline drank down half of what was left of her beer and ran a hand through her hair as she thought. "I came to ask you to forgive me. I heard that you were still alive and assumed you had to beg for your life or Klaus was just biding his time. I'm sorry, Caroline." He told her with a sigh, putting his hand on her knee which was bare from her short dress. Marcel looked genuinely contrite for his actions. "Say you'll forgive an old friend." He added.

The blonde looked at Marcel's hand on her knee then to the bottom of her beer bottle uneasily, lifting the neck to her lips and sucking the rest of the contents down before she could answer him. It was true that she and Marcel were good friends, old friends. He'd protected her, introduced her to Saoirse, James and Aurora and left his city in her hands when he departed. Caroline knew she didn't have the time or the capacity to hate Marcel or be angry at him for bringing Klaus to New Orleans and starting this whole affair. "I forgive you." She insisted.

Marcel looked suspicious of Caroline's instant forgiveness and her easiness at the threat of death, not knowing that the blonde was in fact coming to terms with her own mortality very quickly and didn't want to spend her last days angry at the man who made her. "Do you need me to get you out of here, before he decides to kill you?" He asked her softly. She knew that he would get her out the city to the protection of London, the city he now ruled, if she asked, risking Klaus' anger at the same time.

"I don't need to run, Marcel. And if I did, James would have it covered, you know that." She insisted, the older vampire nodding in agreement with her assessment of James. "And seeing as we're being honest, I already knew Klaus before I came here. I think that's why he hasn't killed me...yet." Caroline explained, looking away when she spoke about her long hidden secret. Marcel narrowed his eyes slightly at this revelation and asked what she meant by 'knowing Klaus'.

"It's a…long story." She sighed, running her hands through her dull and tired hair. "And you of all people would know how Klaus is." Caroline added, pulling a face.

"That I do." Marcel chimed in as he put the empty beer bottle down and stood up, looming over the blonde as he spoke again. "Put something that isn't covered in dirt on and brush your hair out, I'm taking you out for drinks, princess. Alcohol and blood are the only known remedies for Klaus induced anything." He insisted. Caroline didn't look convinced. He smirked that smile that meant that he wasn't taking no for an answer, a smirk that she recognised as he clasped her hands and hauled her up onto her feet in one swift movement. "I'll let you buy the first round to apologise for breaking my nose. And you can tell me all about it." He added with a smirk, though his nose was now perfectly intact again.

"If we're playing that game, you should be buying first round to make up for breaking into my apartment!" Caroline retorted, poking the man on the shoulder to accentuate her point. She was glad to see her friend again, knowing that she wouldn't have seen Marcel again before she died if he hadn't turned up. She was glad that Marcel was so determined to give her a good time, because right now, only he could make her forget what had happened in the last 24 hours. "I'll be five minutes and then you can tell me all about London." She added, disappearing off into her room.

Marcel watched her go and smirked as she did.

* * *

**150 years ago (That or there abouts)**

_Caroline had been in New Orleans for less than a day before someone sought her out and brought her to Marcel. Apparently she'd been spotted in the supernatural part of town asking for Klaus and caused a little of a stir, the ruling vampire just_ w_anted to see what he could do to help her. He was sat in a relatively empty bar when one of his minions brought Caroline in, signalling a drink for the girl and smiling. "Caroline, I believe. I'm Marcel." He told her, handing her the beer and shaking her hand. Caroline shook it cautiously and took a sip of the beer. _

"_I heard that you wanted to talk to me?" She asked nervously, scared beyond belief but too proud to show how terrified she was of the vampire in front of her. _

"_It's not often that we get vampires wandering into town with one of those. Makes a change to meet a vampire in the daylight." He gestured to her daylight ring that sat on the hand clenched around her beer bottle. Caroline glanced at the ring Bonnie had spelled her a year ago and back up at Marcel. Did he want to steal it from her? Was that his game? She exchanged the beer to her ring free hand and put the other hand by her side, clearing her throat. _

"_What did you want to talk about?" She asked, no demanded of him. Marcel smirked at her forwardness, not many people would act like that in front of him. He took a sip of his beer and gestured for her to sit in the booth he'd been drinking in. She tentatively slid into the leather wraparound booth and drunk a little more beer. _

"_Heard that you were looking for Klaus. The hybrid." He commented. "Any particular reason why you're hunting him down?" _

_Caroline paused mid-sip and swallowed the beer thickly, tucking some hair behind her ear and clicking her tongue softly. Marcel waited expectantly, obviously looking forward to the great tale that had led a young, baby vampire to look for the Original hybrid. She smiled and shrugged. "I have a friend in his group of vampire groupies, he went missing, and I thought Klaus might be able to help me shed some light on the situation, or find him." She lied effortlessly. "Do you know where I might find him?" She asked him innocently. _

"_Sorry, but he left few weeks ago for Virginia. Family business, but he didn't leave anything behind. And he didn't have anyone with him the whole time he was here. I don't think your friend is with him." Marcel explained with a shrug, taking Caroline's lie as truth and sipping at his beer. Caroline's heart fell into her stomach and she knew she could pass off any emotion that flickered on her face as sadness that her 'friend' was still missing. If Marcel suspected her lie, he didn't show it._

_It was quiet between the two of them for a little while. Whilst they sat in silence, a teenage girl with black hair came over and asked if either of them needed a refill. She was human by the smell of her, though her blood scent was hard to place under all the perfume she was wearing. Caroline looked up at the girl as Marcel grinned lopsidedly at the waitress, who couldn't have been more than 17 like Caroline. "Not at the moment, Aurora. Give your best to your grandmother for me." He smirked; the girl nodded with a small smile and disappeared off to wait on other tables. _

_Once the black haired waitress had disappeared off, Marcel turned back to Caroline and began the conversation once more. "Was it important to find him, your friend I mean?" He asked. _

_Caroline sighed and smiled sadly, playing with the label of her beer bottle. She scratched at it with her thumb nail to bring it away from the glass. "I got myself in a bit of trouble; my friend was the only person I could think of to hide with until it blew over." She admitted Marcel's smile and easiness with her pulling the truth from her. He nodded. _

"_Well, until you find your friend, you're more than welcome to stay here in New Orleans. Plenty of vampires here to blend in with, and vouch that you're not here or were ever here should anyone come looking for you." He suggested. Caroline looked up at this offer. "The only thing I'd ask in return is you do a few things for me, watch a few people, keep some people in line. Nothing major. What do you say?" He smirked evilly. _

* * *

"So, there was no friend? You were looking for Klaus?" Marcel clarified as the pair sat in a bar a little way off from Aurora's bar. Caroline nodded with her head swimming with the memories of that night when she'd agreed to live in New Orleans. She remembered it so clearly, the start of her life here. She owed everything she had to Marcel's snap decision to offer her protection. The vampire beside her sighed and took a sip. "I can still why a bit of paranoia with this Stefan fellow would be warranted then." He commented.

She'd just told him the whole story, that there was no friend, that she'd come to New Orleans looking for Klaus, what had happened with Damon and her conversation with Klaus over her sire's dead body. Having it all off her chest was such a relief to Caroline as she ordered a shot and drank it back. Marcel looked over at Caroline once more. "The invitation is still open, I looked after you once and I can do it again. Get out of New Orleans before Stefan can even get on a plane." He urged her.

"He'll follow me there, and if I get to London before he leaves Paris, he's only closer to me. I'm staying here. This is my home." She insisted. "Besides, I'm not giving Klaus the satisfaction of disappearing out the back door." Caroline added. Marcel tilted his head in agreement.

"I don't think he'll let this guy kill you anyways. It sounds like he's more concerned about your life than you think." Caroline scoffed and took a drink. Marcel decided to not push the issue further; she looked like she'd had enough of hybrid talk for one night. The dawn was just beginning to rise in New Orleans; the only people with them in the bar were the night shift waitresses and the drunkards with no place to go. "This place hasn't changed in the slightest." He insisted.

"How long have you been here?" She asked.

"Three hours. I paid Aurora a visit first, told her how dearly I missed her." Marcel explained with a smirk which clashed with Caroline's scowl of disapproval when she found out where Marcel had been most of the night before he came to hers. Marcel looked innocent and shrugged. "What?" He exclaimed incredulously.

"You know what." Caroline's scowl deepened. "One day, I swear, she's going to snap and beat you to a bloody pulp and I'm not going to stop her. Hell, I'll film it and Saoirse will cheer her on. What you did to that poor girl was despicable. And you just left a decade after and left me and Saoirse to look after her when she was still finding her feet!" She shook her head. Marcel still didn't look guilty, having obviously used up his ability to feel guilty on his earlier confession. "She was only 20; she didn't know what she was getting into when you wormed your way into her life."

"You were 18 when you were turned; she lived more of a life than you did. I did what I could to protect myself and my friends, including you." He insisted, his voice going dark. Caroline straightened up a little at his tone and knew not to interrupt it as he continued to speak, quietly sipping her drink as he went on.

"Aurora knew the rules and she was warned; the fact of the matter is she played the game and lost, princess. If she hadn't blabbed about her grandmother using magic, she wouldn't have to put herself forward to barter for her grandmother's life." Marcel insisted, a clash between the two rulers of New Orleans brewing. Marcel had been all about rules and following them out. Caroline was softer than that, more caring but she still insisted that rules be followed and punishments be followed through. But they still argued over their techniques.

"Aurora can't help being a blabbermouth, but you can help being an ass!" She snapped, tightening her grip around her bottle. For a second, Marcel's lips downturned from his smirk and he looked at her like he might-

"Caroline, we were so worried about you! Answer your goddamned phone!" Saoirse's voice broke the pair's stand off as Caroline and Marcel looked up in time to see Saoirse rushing to hug Caroline to her tightly like they hadn't seen each other for decades but less than 24 hours. Caroline hugged her friend back as her gaze went over the red head's shoulders to see Klaus standing behind them, James at his side.

"Am I interrupting something, love?" He uneasily nodded in greeting to Marcel, who returned the gesture. Caroline swallowed thickly and caught Klaus' gaze.

"Klaus." She breathed gently.

"This is certainly a sight to see." He commented. "Anyone for a drink? Next round is on me."


	12. Part 12

_Caroline knew the first time the people of New Orleans had ever seen her as a potential leader in their ranks, not just another one of Marcel's inner circle, not just another vampire. It was a moment that set events in motion; it was a moment that could have swung either way. It could have swung one way and make her queen, or it could have swung the other and gotten her killed._

_And she had one person to thank for the outcome, Aurora. _

_The girl was 17 when Caroline arrived in New Orleans, a waitress at the very bar she went on to own and be the mistress of. She was a witch's granddaughter. She and Caroline had become friends through repeated exposure to another. Caroline was a regular patron of her grandmother's bar and thus the pair had gone from acquaintances to good friends to drinking buddies when Aurora wasn't on shift, even though the girl wasn't of legal drinking age. _

_Her grandmother, Norma, was a powerful witch, very controlling over her granddaughter who had come to her a year before, only a stray, a rescue, a little girl in a big world. Her grandmother hated Marcel's rules and secretly searched for a way to dethrone him, kill him. She'd worked for years for a spell to take down the vampires and once she'd wrote it, she called upon her inexperienced granddaughter for a bloodline spell that needed two witches of the same family to work._

_Aurora had many flaws that made up her personality; one of them was her big mouth. But it was that flaw that changed Caroline's life for good. _

"_No, Bonnie, you don't need to visit. You have college finals and this place isn't exactly witch friendly." Caroline spoke into the phone as she wandered aimlessly down the New Orleans Street, not sure where she was going as the sun began to set. The nightwalkers would be out soon, and the day would really begin. She'd been talking to her old friend for an hour now and was beginning to wrap up the conversation. "Please, for my sake, I'll visit you for your graduation. I couldn't bear to think of you getting hurt here." She insisted after Bonnie began to argue her case. _

"_I know, Care, it's just…I worry about you." Bonnie admitted on the other end of the line. _

"_I'm fine, Bonnie, I have nowhere else to go. Besides, I have friends here. Not as awesome as you, but they look after me. And I'm still on the bunny diet, I'm not losing myself here, I promise." She told her friend over the phone as she stood outside a small shop in the Quarter, clicking her tongue as she listened to Bonnie slowly agree to the idea that she wouldn't be visiting Caroline in New Orleans any time soon. "So, I'll be there to see you graduate, I promise. I'll talk to you later." Caroline smiled down the phone before hanging up. _

"_Anyone exciting?" Caroline turned around to see Marcel standing behind her. She didn't know how long he'd been standing there so just played it cool. She hadn't done anything wrong. Caroline smiled and turned fully to face him. _

"_Just checking in with an old friend." She dismissed it like it wasn't that interesting, which to Marcel, it couldn't have been. Caroline tucked her phone into her purse and smiled brightly. "Shall we get a move on? You said this was important on the phone." Caroline added as Marcel gestured for them to walk towards the more supernatural orientated part of the Quarter, the hub of Marcel's power. She followed, walking beside him but not as an equal. Like an advisor to a King, not a Queen. Yet. _

"_It is." He explained as they walked, people giving the pair the wide berth. The way they walked made it obvious to the people on the streets that they were not the sort to be knocked into by mortals, they were headed somewhere with purpose. "Norma Monroe is plotting against me, she was writing a spell that could paralyze any vampire in a 3 mile radius, giving the witches enough time to stake whomever they pleased. You, me, Saoirse...you name it." He explained, Caroline furrowed her brow at this news. _

"_Aurora's grandmother?" She asked. "Who told you this?" _

"_Why, Aurora herself. She accidentally blurted it out when we were having drinks yesterday. Tried to cover her tracks, but the cat's out of the bag. Tried to run this morning, the poor thing, but we found her praying in an alleyway an hour ago. Her grandmother was in the bar, put up a bit of a fight." He explained with a sigh and shake of the head. Marcel had had high hopes for the girl. This was a disappointment he could tell. "But Aurora came quietly enough when she realised that there was no alternative, in fact, she made quite an interesting offer, princess." He explained tightly as they started down another street. _

"_What was the offer?" Caroline asked tensely. Caroline and Aurora were good friends; she couldn't bear to think of her and her grandmother dying because of this, she had nothing to do with this. She knew the girl was inexperienced with magic; she didn't want to be a witch. She was just glad to be away from her abusive family. Marcel just smirked as they approached the growing crowd, the word of mouth having drawn a crowd for the witch trial tonight. _

"_You'll see." Marcel smirked as the pair approached. Caroline would never get used to these street trials and sometimes executions. She nodded shakily and put on her straight face, the face she'd learnt to keep on no matter who was there or what happened. Saoirse was sitting on the hood of a car, her own little Nissan, with a bottle of vodka. James was standing beside the car and talking to the unresponsive red head as she drank. The news had probably reached the girl earlier and she wasn't happy with it, but there was nothing she could do. _

_Caroline let Marcel wander off to start the party and began over to the car; Saoirse looked up to see her friend approaching. "How's Bonnie?" The red head asked, knowing that her roommate had planned to phone her old friend today. _

"_She's good. She wanted to visit, I told her to stay away. And tonight, I know I'm making the right decision by keeping her out the city." Caroline commented as Saoirse offered her the bottle and she took a quick swig. James nodded in agreement and turned to watch Marcel addressing his audience, the two girls' word lost in the noise of the crowd. "Aurora's going to be crushed; her grandmother is her only family left. The rest don't wanna know. Her mother won't even admit she's a witch, and her stepfather told her if she shows her face again, he'll put a bullet in her brain."_

_Caroline and Saoirse already knew how this was going to go. They would bring out Norma Monroe, and she would deny everything. Marcel in turn would slaughter her. Caroline wondered where Aurora was right now. Was she out the city? Had she told Marcel everything in exchange for her safe transport? Was she still here? She had nowhere else to go. Caroline sighed and took another sip of vodka before passing the bottle to Saoirse. "Looks like the show's starting." James commented bitterly as a woman with black hair was pushed through the crowds, her hands tied behind her back. Her hair covered her face and through the crowds, Caroline could only assume it was Norma. _

"_Aurora Maria Monroe, you have been accused of the practice of witchcraft beyond the bounds of the rules set forth, and enforced, by me. How do you plead?" Marcel's voice ran clear through the street and Caroline's eyes widened. Wait, Aurora? The blonde detached herself from the car and began to push through the crowd to get a better look of the black haired girl in the centre. Her hair fell back from her face to reveal Aurora's face, a younger incarnation of her grandmother's features, though she had a black eye and a cut on her cheek that Caroline could smell was still bleeding. One bead of blood dripped down her cheek onto her jaw. _

_The girl adjusted herself a little, summoning courage. "Guilty, I did it. I did everything." She admitted, which was met with jeering and calls for her death. _

_Caroline watched as the crowd waited for a response and began over to Marcel, putting a hand on his shoulder and breaking his reverie. "You can't be serious; you just told me two minutes that you knew it was her grandmother. Aurora's innocent! She can barely cast a simple spell; she couldn't pull off something like this." She whispered almost inaudible in case of prying ears. The crowd looked confused as someone stood up to Marcel, something that was unheard of and craned to try and hear the conversation. Marcel looked from the blonde to the young Asian woman standing a few feet away, then back. _

"_This was the offer, princess, she takes the blame, and her grandma gets out the city. Nobody will ever know the real story." Marcel insisted to the blonde, quiet enough that nobody could hear through the murmurs of the crowd. Caroline crossed her arms and cocked an eyebrow at the vampire, who returned the gesture. They remained like that for a moment before he relaxed, putting his hands up to assure the blonde. "Fine. I'll let her go. But only because you're my friend." He muttered lowly. Caroline stayed wary of how easily that he had changed his mind but stepped back a little, some of the crowd eyeing her suspiciously as she blended back into the edges of the crowd. _

"_Well, now, I don't take too well to liars, Aurora." Marcel announced to the crowd, who jeered and the young woman on trial looked confused. Caroline knew she hadn't expected anyone to stand up for her, especially not one of the vampires of New Orleans. Caroline kept her arms across her chest as Marcel approached the girl, step by step, quietly as the crowd continued to cheer for a death. "So, here's what I'm going to do. You can go free." His decree was met with booing and jeering as he walked behind her and undoing her ties. _

_Aurora slipped her hand from the ropes and rubbed her wrists, still looking down at the floor as she didn't want to make eye contact with any of the crowd. Saoirse had pushed her way through the crowd to stand beside Caroline, sipping her vodka as she did. Marcel leaned forward and whispered something in Aurora's ear. The girl's eyes instantly widened and she swallowed thickly, bolting. _

"_Oh, there she goes!" someone yelled as the little witch bolted. _

_Marcel clicked his tongue and watched the girl run, nobody went after her but Caroline went to Marcel's side again, asking him what the hell was happening again. He muttered something under his breath, eyes still trained on the girl who was rushing as quickly as she could from the street, people cheering as she did. Caroline swallowed thickly when she realised that Marcel was counting down, from ten to one. He was going to chase her. _

_Before she could even process what was happening, Marcel had disappeared after the girl at vampire speed. Nobody had followed when Aurora had run into a side street. Caroline growled angrily and began after them, a few vampires following suit to see what Marcel was doing to do with the little witch. Caroline slowed to human speed when she found Marcel holding the girl up by her neck in the middle of the small, quiet street._

"_What the hell? You said you would let her go!" Caroline shouted at him as she watched Aurora struggle to breath._

_The five or six vampires who had followed the blonde into the street looked bewildered at this promise. Marcel just smirked and Caroline noticed the trail of blood that ran from the edge of Aurora's lips down her chin, her lips painted with blood. Marcel's sleeve was upturned and dried blood was sticking to his skin. _

_Her stomach plummeted when she realised what was happening as Aurora continued to suffocate under Marcel's grip, grabbing at the man's hand pathetically in an attempt to wrench her throat from his immovable grip. No, this was all too real, too like how she'd been turned by Katherine four years ago. Suffocating and struggling for breath, getting no relief until you woke up in transition, and scared. "No! You can't do this!" Caroline shouted at him, standing right next to him as she refused to watch a girl die, be turned the way she had. _

"_Too late, princess." Marcel insisted as Aurora went limp in his grasp, Caroline gasped in shock when he dropped her body to the ground and the young woman fell onto her back, blood dripping from her mouth and her eyes closed like she was at peace. She was far from peace. Marcel pulled out a handkerchief and started to wipe his wrist of blood. "I let her go; she'll be in better condition than she ever was. She's still alive and now her grandmother can't complete that spell. Win-win." Marcel explained the reasons behind what he'd just done. _

"_What sort of sick twisted compromise is that?" She shouted as she knelt next to the girl, making sure she was okay. It was a stupid thing; she knew Aurora was physically fine. Saoirse and James had joined them in the street with a few more vampires. "James, can you take her?" Caroline asked her friend, who nodded and scooped up the transitioning witch into his arms. _

_Caroline straightened up and looked at Marcel in the eyes, everyone watched nervously. This would go one way or another, either Marcel would hurt, maybe even kill Caroline for questioning him and his authority, or Caroline would walk away unharmed with a little bit of Marcel's power in her pocket. James would have instantly carried Aurora away but he wanted to be close to protect Caroline if necessary. Saoirse swallowed thickly and watched the stare down. "She broke the rules, princess." Marcel's go to response for everything._

"_She didn't do anything except trust you and protect her family. Thought you would sympathize a little with that second part." Caroline commented snappily before she began to walk off, Saoirse and James following her with Aurora in his arms. That was the day that the vampires of New Orleans began to see Caroline as less of a princess under Marcel's thumb but an up and coming Queen._

* * *

Caroline woke up in her bed from her memories with a groggy brain. She rubbed her head as she opened her eyes to find herself staring at the wall of her bedroom. Her eyes flickered over to the clock on her bedside table that read 4pm in the afternoon. The last time she'd looked at the time, it had read 9am. Caroline blinked a few times to clear her eyes and hummed happily, stretching as she sifted through the memories of last night in the bar. Klaus had bought them all drinks and they all proceeded to uneasily drink themselves into a stupor without saying much to the other.

She sighed and registered someone else was breathing. "You have some very interesting memories, Caroline. Beautiful, really. I mean, I have chills. You getting all authoritative." Klaus' voice broke through the silence as Caroline sat up and looked the hybrid in the eyes. He was sat in the low armchair in the corner of her room, watching her with a smirk on his face. Like a King sitting on his throne, she thought reluctantly as she swung her legs over the side and stretched a little more. Caroline stood up. "No thank you for the guy who brought you home?" He asked after a few seconds, his words bringing the memories of Klaus carrying a very drunk Caroline to her bed that morning.

"I didn't ask you to." Caroline reminded him as she readjusted her wayward shirt and ran her fingers through her hair before sitting back down on the bed. "What are you doing still here? Rifling through my dreams?" She asked.

"Yesterday whilst Saoirse and James were frantically looking for you, they knocked into me and we agreed that once we pinned you down that it's best that you stay inside. She and James will let us know when Stefan is seen in the city. Marcel is more than welcome to come visit." He commented, standing up as he spoke. Caroline furrowed her brow when he explained what her best friend and Klaus had agreed on without her knowing.

"That doesn't explain why you're sitting in my bedroom, watching me sleep."

"I was just getting to it, patience, love." Klaus smirked and continued. "I trust Marcel as far as I can throw him and with a price on your head, you need to be kept safe. And since this is partially my fault, I agreed to keep an eye on you. I think Saoirse wanted to keep me out of the way too. Kill two birds with one stone, as they used to say."

"I can look after myself." Caroline snapped, not looking at him. "And James would never leave you alone with me." She added.

"Remember when you told me that James would bring Saoirse my head on a plate if she asked? Well, it turns out he would also put aside his contempt for me if she asked to. He agrees that Marcel and Stefan seem like greater threats than I am at this point, and if I do take my chance, at least they'll know who to point the finger at." He smirked with finality, watching her stand up and walk to her vanity. Caroline swallowed thickly, knowing that Saoirse could have easily convinced James to let Klaus keep Caroline in her apartment. "They're doing this for your safety."

"I know, but I'm worried about why you're doing this."

"Why, to spend time with you and make up for luring Stefan here." Klaus commented as if it were an easy answer, waving it off with one hand as Caroline sat down and began to comb through her ratty, unwashed hair and take off her makeup that was smudged from last night.

Caroline sighed, this wasn't the first time they had confined her to her rooms for her own safety when they thought someone might try and hurt her so they could deal with it. They were older and more experienced at fighting, Caroline was still young by vampire standards after all. This was however the first they'd locked her away with anyone to protect her. They knew the threat was serious now. Wait. "You told them about Stefan." She realised through gritted teeth.

"I didn't go into the dirty details; I just told them that someone was coming for you with a serious grudge. With that and Marcel suddenly back in town, they agreed it was for the best and you were a little preoccupied with drinking the bar dry for us to explain." Klaus explained casually as he went over to the pin board she'd found him standing at days before and perused the collage of memories she'd pinned there over the years. Caroline ran her hands through her hair. "If you want me to go, I have no problems with it, but Saoirse won't be happy." He commented.

She sighed, stood up and turned to him. "Ground rules. This is my apartment, you do as I say. If I say leave, you better skip your hybrid ass out the door and leave me be. Don't talk about Stefan. At all." Caroline insisted. "If you want to know something, then just ask me. No rifling through my dreams, my memories. I don't take well to being dream assaulted." She added. Klaus nodded once with a smirk and she rolled her eyes.

"Agreed." Klaus commented, nodding obediently to the Queen in front of him. Caroline watched him closely, looking for signs that he wasn't being honest and not finding any on face value. She didn't let go of the breath she didn't notice she was holding until he began to speak.

"So, what happened after that night then?" He asked after a few seconds.


	13. Part 13

**It is Klaroline scenes that you have asked for and Klaroline scenes you shall receive. Consider this chapter a bit of a drum roll to Chapter 14, because I think some people are going to really like what I have planned for that chapter. Hope you are all enjoying the story and that you keep reviewing, alerting and favouriting because it never fails to bring a smile to my face. **

**Onwards!**

* * *

Caroline didn't know how she'd gotten to this point, she wondered casually as she sipped at the large glass of red wine and blood she'd poured herself a few minutes ago. Her trail of thought was suddenly cut off when the pad of Klaus' thumb hit a particular sensitive spot in her shoulder blade and she closed her eyes to enjoy the feeling of the knot unwinding in his grip. "When did you get so good at this?" She asked in a light voice, taking another sip of her wine as she sat on the sofa, her torso twisted to give Klaus better access to her shoulders as he rubbed them.

He smirked behind her and continued to move his thumbs into her muscles, loosening them. "You pick things up after 1000 years, love." He smiled as he continued. Caroline tilted her head in consideration and took another sip of her drink and continued to try to remember how she'd gotten to the point where Klaus was rubbing her shoulders not more than a day after she'd found out that he and Saoirse had conspired to keep her hidden for her safety.

Saoirse had come by the morning after Caroline had woken up with Klaus in her bedroom (after an awkward night with Klaus sleeping in the spare bedroom and Caroline barely sleeping a wink) and confirmed that she and Klaus had had such a conversation when she'd been searching for Caroline desperately. Having last seen her after in the coffee shop with just a text saying Caroline was going to follow Klaus and would be in the bar later, Saoirse had become worried when Caroline didn't turn up, even more so when she swung by Caroline's apartment to find it empty.

Klaus had been returning from disposing of Damon's body when he'd seen the redhead and the soldier looking for their Queen, he'd seen the look in her eyes when she found from a bitter and half-drunk Aurora that Marcel was in town. A look that had intensified when Klaus explained why Caroline may have left town, though she refused to believe Caroline would skip town without letting her know. The hybrid had successfully managed to pull some eyewitness accounts from the vampires and the humans that lived in Caroline's building that led them to the bar Caroline and Marcel had been drinking in for most of the early morning.

Saoirse hated to trust Klaus but the fact of the matter was that he had saved Caroline's life twice now and having him out of trouble's path was just as beneficial for their mission to stop Stefan. Klaus couldn't get up to much under Caroline's watchful eye, the Irishwoman had commented as the girls sat in her bedroom with coffees, knowing that Klaus was listening in from the living room, where he was making use of Caroline's library. Probably with a smirk on his face.

Since then, the pair had co-existed silently in her apartment. Caroline got visits from some night walkers that evening to discuss some issues that had arose with a pack of werewolves, Klaus watching quietly from the bar with a glass of her 50 year old scotch and a smirk etched into his face as Caroline tried to focus. He, after all, was very distracting.

It was the evening after Caroline and Klaus had become unofficial roommates, and she'd been pouring herself a glass of wine and grumbling to herself about nightwalkers when he'd come through from where he'd been reading one of her books in the study. He'd asked her what was on her mind and she'd effortlessly and willingly poured out her troubles to him; halfway through her troubled recount of the meeting, even though he'd been there, he'd casually began to rub one of her shoulders with one hand and soon she was turned away from him and both of his hands were working at her right shoulder.

She made a noise like a well-fed kitten and took another sip of her blood-wine concoction. "I assume you came to some sort of resolution with your nightwalkers?" Klaus asked lightly, returning to their previous conversation. She scoffed and reminded him that he'd been listening in the whole time. "I know, it's just better when it comes from your lips." He chuckled lightly.

Caroline's phone buzzed on her knee and she picked it up, holding it in her lap and clicking the message from Aurora. She wanted to know if she was okay. Caroline relayed that she was fine and asked the same thing. It must have been hard for Aurora to be around Marcel, she never trusted him again after that night. She never wanted to talk to him again, but she had to. He was the King of the Quarter back then. She'd been more than relieved when Marcel had left to go traveling, and had really come out her shell. Caroline was scared she'd slipped back into it with him around.

"I have a question." Klaus' voice interrupted the room after a few more minutes of silence, his hands moving to her left shoulder and repeating the motions. Caroline unwittingly let out a little whine of appreciation and instantly flushed bright red, glad she couldn't see his face. She stammered through her response, telling him to go for it. "Why did you stand up to Marcel that time in particular? He must have executed many witches in the three years you'd been in New Orleans, why was Aurora so important? She was just one girl." He asked her softly, his voice slightly confused.

Caroline smiled softly and closed her eyes, letting the sensation of his hands moving against her skin seep into her. A few moments of that almost perverse enjoyment went by before she realised that she had yet to answer and the words tumbled out of her mouth quickly to regain lost time. "She was innocent, she hadn't done anything. She was just a scared little girl with a troubled past who had fallen for a man with a charming smirk." Caroline didn't comment that she knew what that felt as she paused to take a sip.

"Marcel had a right to fear witches that tried to rise up against him and hurt him, I didn't like it but he had his reasons and he was in charge. I was a baby vampire; I had no business telling him how to run things around here with so little life experience compared to him. But his plan to kill Aurora was just for the sick, twisted enjoyment of it, to give the crowd what they wanted, and she was worth more than that, she was more than a spectacle and a corpse in the street. I couldn't stand by and watch that." She explained softly, taking a long sip of her wine.

"He could have killed you for your disobedience and questioning." Klaus spoke with a steely quality to his voice. Caroline looked down.

"Some things are worth standing up for; some things are even worth dying for. Aurora was willing to die for her grandmother's life; I was willing to die for what I thought was right." Caroline replied smoothly, Klaus' hands pausing on her flesh as she spoke. "That's my problem, I think. I always do what I think is right at the time; I always try and stick to my principles. But it seems that each time I do that, someone ends up hurt or dead." She fell quiet after speaking and Klaus knew she was thinking about Elena as well, dead at her hand because she thought she was doing the right thing.

Klaus sighed heavily and went back to rubbing her shoulder. "Your government does a fair job of keeping things running smoothly around here though." He commented to try and lift her spirits a little. Caroline huffed and shrugged her shoulders from his grasp.

"I'm going to go to bed. I'm tired." She announced, sighing heavily and finishing off her glass of wine in a few gulps. Klaus watched as the girl put her empty glass on the coffee table and began into her bedroom, shutting the door loudly behind her without saying another word to him. Not even good night. Klaus sat there on the sofa and tried to process what had just happened.

* * *

Caroline lay in bed that night, having heard Klaus go to bed himself, and sighed heavily. It was difficult enough having Klaus in the same city as her, now he was 10-20 feet from her, and he'd been rubbing her body half the evening. Caroline grumbled lowly as she felt the lingering tingles in her skin from his hands against her, frustrated that there was nothing that she could do about it with him just yards from her. Well, not without a copious amount of alcohol in her first.

God, she hoped that he was abiding by her rule not to rifle through her dreams, because he would learn some interesting things about how the girl felt about the sleeping arrangements.

On top of that, she was still depressed from the conversation she'd had while the hybrid massaging her shoulders. She didn't know what to think, she had this tendency for spilling her guts whenever she was around Klaus, and he just pulled the truth from her like a fisherman and with a line. She should probably work on that. Caroline groaned and opened her eyes, instantly adjusting to the darkness and looking at the clock next to her. 3:42am.

Caroline sighed, and got out of bed. She wandered into the hallway, noticing that the door to the spare bedroom was ajar. Caroline had been planning to get something to eat from the kitchen, as she'd hurried off to bed so quickly that she'd forgotten to feed herself any dinner and she hadn't eaten since breakfast. Caroline furrowed her brow and slowly began over to the door, her fingertips pushing on the wood so it creaked a little further in so she easily poke her head in to see inside the dark room.

The bedroom was sparsely decorated as she rarely had people staying in there; usually it was Saoirse with a hangover or friends who had moved on from New Orleans passing through. It was all pearly grey walls and white bed sheets, some white blinds blocking out most of the light coming in from the street lights. The sheets were unmade…and empty. Caroline quickly flipped the lights on to find the room was completely empty, her ears picking up that she was alone in the apartment.

"What the…?" Caroline breathed.

* * *

Across town, Klaus was walking into the bar where he had brought Caroline out in her near cationic state just over a day ago. It was the middle of the night but the bar was still relatively full, seeing as it was Saturday and the human population that had to slave away for their living could unwind for the evening. This part of town was on the outskirts of the supernatural area of the city, far more humans than supernatural unlike Aurora's who had almost exclusively vampires, werewolves and witches as her patrons.

Sitting at the bar was Marcel, already with a beer and calmly chatting with the bartender. After all, wait staff were one of his favourite delicacies, particularly if they were female with a nice chest and a tight behind. Klaus had a fair few questions for the vampire he called his friend, that's why he'd left Caroline alone. Why had Marcel sold out his supposedly good pal Caroline to him? Why had he even almost encouraged Klaus to travel to New Orleans? Why had he reappeared in the Quarter? And most importantly, what exactly was the nature of his relationship with Caroline?

Klaus held in a jealous grimace, straightening up and beginning over to the vampire, already on the offensive, already assuming the worst. He ordered a beer, which caught Marcel and the waitress' attention from their conversation in low voices. "Are you really determined to sleep with every waitress fresh out of college with big dreams out there?" Klaus commented disdainfully when the girl went off to get Klaus his drink. Marcel smirked.

"Goes with the bar scene. Maximum pleasure, minimal travel." He told his friend.

"Well, I know one bartender that wouldn't let you near her with a ten foot pole, shame her bar is the hub of the supernatural community here." Klaus commented slyly as the brunette bartender handed him his beer and he paid. Marcel looked displeased by this reminder of Aurora's hatred of him and took a long sip of his own beer. "What was it James said last night? 'If you ever step foot in her bar again, I will rip your heart out'?" Klaus added, still teasing him.

"James never trusts me when I'm around his girls, even though I looked after all of them long before he first laid eyes on each. He's fiercely protective of them, and what thanks do I get for it? Threatened every time I go near them and glares that could kill every time I buy Saoirse a drink." Marcel commented wryly, shaking his head. Klaus tilted his head; he knew the feeling though the idea of Caroline, Saoirse and Aurora being categorized as James' 'girls' made him almost jealous "So, why did you summon me here at this late hour? I take it wasn't to bitch about James like old maids."

"I wanted to know why I found out what business you had here with Caroline yesterday. In fact, knowing why you're here at all would be most enlightening." Klaus spoke like he had with Damon yesterday, a tone that implied that the listener was not in direct danger along with the promise that he could turn nasty if his questions weren't answered sharpish. He refused to believe that Marcel didn't have an ulterior motive for appearing in New Orleans at this point in time, that he couldn't just have come to have a drink with an old friend and get threatened by a woman he scorned.

"Well, my original plan was to come and sneak Caroline out of New Orleans before you could make your move, take her to London to lie low. But when I got here, the word on the street was that my plan wasn't necessary after all. In fact, you saved her from a werewolf bite, or so the gossip goes these days." Marcel explained, watching the hybrid carefully and precisely picking his words. He knew that Klaus' anger was not a fire you wanted to ignite. Klaus tilted his head in question at Marcel's constant references to the supernatural gossip. "Word travels." Marcel commented.

"Why was it so important that you get Caroline out?" Klaus asked after a few seconds. "What exactly is the nature of your relationship?"

"Are you asking me if I've seen her naked?" Marcel smirked. Klaus growled low in his throat, surprisingly angered by the idea that Marcel had managed to coax Caroline into bed. How could she pick him over Klaus? How was Marcel any less terrible or evil that he was? What did Marcel do to enchant her, what could he offer that Klaus couldn't? There was nothing Klaus couldn't offer her; protection, power, love, anything she desired. Marcel could offer her this at a second hand rate, riding on the coattails of Klaus' departure from New Orleans 250 years ago. Had Klaus not gone, Marcel would not be able to offer the girl a thing against him. "If that's what you're asking, then no, I haven't yet had the pleasure." He smirked.

Klaus' eyes darkened and he clenched at his bottle before taking a sip, Marcel casually joining in like he didn't know that Klaus was resisting the urge to yank his friend's heart out if he implied that he would be having a sexual relationship with Caroline again. "Good to know her tastes are still excellently refined, then." Klaus replied tersely. "Then what's the pull to her?"

"I told you all those years ago, nobody hurts my guys; that's the rules. Doesn't matter where I am, or where they are, or who's trying to hurt them. Nobody hurts my family. Caroline has been in that group since she stumbled into New Orleans looking for you all those years ago. I'm not having you or some avenging ex-friend of hers hurting her." Marcel insisted, finishing off his drink and gesturing to the bartender for another one. Before Klaus could ask another question, his phone buzzed in his pocket and he pulled it out his pocket.

It was Caroline.

"Uh oh, the missus." Marcel sang lightly before taking his new drink off the bartender. Klaus rolled his eyes and stood up, leaving his drink unfinished as he began out the loud bar to take the call. He pressed the take call button and held it to his ear.

Before he could even speak, Caroline was shouting down the phone. "Klaus! You gotta get here quick!"


	14. Part 14

**You don't understand, I love cliff hangers though.**

**This chapter was nearly late, and you'll see why it took a little extra time (and two rum and cokes) for me to finish it and get it ready for you. I'm posting this at ten in the morning and I've been re-editing and fine tuning since 9am. I should probably go get some breakfast. Anyways, I think a lot of people will enjoy this chapter as it's something a lot of people have been asking for. Enjoy!**

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Klaus was back at the apartment building in a flash, leaving Marcel to his drinking and forbidding him from joining him to come see to Caroline's safety. He took the stairs because they were both quicker and empty so he could go at hybrid speed without anyone noticing. Klaus slowed to human speed when he arrived at the open door to Caroline's apartment, moving around to look around the apartment. He couldn't smell blood.

But he did smell Chinese food.

"Well, the Chinese food guy beat you here. But don't feel too bad, it was a minute, two minutes tops." Caroline announced as she walked into the living room, holding a takeout food container and a fork. She looked up as Klaus' face became a picture of confusion. Caroline popped a dumpling into her mouth and smiled. "Crispy duck?" She offered.

"You said you were in trouble." Klaus spoke through gritted teeth.

"I said you needed to get here quickly, you inferred the trouble part." She commented, sitting down and smirking as she took another bite of what looked like rice. Klaus slammed the door shut behind him and she flinched, but was overall undeterred as she continued to eat. She crossed her legs and looked up at him once more. Klaus took a second to look her over. She was wearing a thin green camisole and some matching underwear brief made of cotton with a lace trim. If he wasn't so angry, he would have swallowed thickly at the sight. "That'll teach you to go running off on me." She shrugged.

"Love, I am not some meagre puppy dog you can call to your side when you are bored." He told her angrily, standing over her as she continued to eat. Klaus was almost impressed with her uncaring attitude to his anger, if it wasn't so annoying and frustrating that she wasn't cowering in fear at his tone alone. Caroline shrugged her shoulders.

"The evidence suggests otherwise." She told him with a triumphant smirk.

Klaus' eyes flashed with anger and he had her pinned against the wall in a second flat, her food falling onto the floor. He clamped his hand around her throat. "Remember who you are speaking to." He told her, she closed her eyes for a few seconds to adjust the feel of her throat closing under his grip. When they opened, they weren't fearful; they had only a hint of concern for her safety but the rest of confidence. Klaus loosened his grip.

"Oh, I remember. Do you?" She asked him calmly, though her voice was still strained. Caroline looked at his hand and at her own chest, her hands pressed flat into the wall as she spoke once more. "This is the part where you rip my heart out. Go on, I dare you. Prove everyone right." She stage whispered.

Klaus let go of her neck and stepped away, pacing a few steps away from her and turning from the blonde as she rubbed the skin of her neck. He was full of anger and rage and a hint of lust. She pulled her camisole right, Klaus seeing the material slide over her breast out the corner of his eyes as she did so. "I've thought I've told you that I have no intentions of killing you." Klaus snarled. "Though you are making it increasingly difficult to keep my promise to protect you…" He trailed off. Caroline was the only one who could treat him like this and live to tell the tale, and she knew that.

"I have no guarantee of that promise." She reminded him, looking at her spilled Chinese food and shaking her head. Klaus rolled his eyes. "Especially when I think you're skipping town every two days." She murmured to herself as she picked her glass of wine from the bar.

Klaus furrowed his brow and turned to face the blonde fully for the first time since he'd released her from his grip. She took a long sip of her wine then brought out a glass for Klaus. Pulling out a half-finished bottle of wine, she emptied the remainder of the bottle into the two glasses and taking hers once more, now topped up. He didn't know how much she'd drank but he could see where the false sense of confidence was coming from. Or maybe it was a warranted sense of confidence; Klaus had never had any intention of hurting her. "What do you mean by that?" He asked.

"Disappearing off towards the city limits with my phone, disappearing in the night without saying a world, it doesn't look good, Klaus. It looks like you're running away from me, and I get this feeling in my stomach every time I think about you skipping town that won't go away." She admitted between sips of her wine. If Caroline were human, she'd have a serious drinking problem. Luckily, she was a vampire. Klaus could reap the benefits of alcohol making her a truthful person without the worry of her liver shutting down. "That's why I wanted you to think something was going to happen, because it might as well have. And if you had left town, I would know…"

"Know what?" He asked.

"Nothing." She insisted, putting the glass down and beginning into the hallway. Klaus flashed in front of her and blocked her entrance to the hall so she couldn't hide in her bedroom as always. "Get out of my way!" Caroline insisted loudly.

"Not until you finish the end of that sentence." He commented, tapping her nose with a smirk.

"Get out of my way, you hybrid jackass!" She quipped.

"Not the sentence, I meant, love." Klaus leaned in to smirk, observing every little reaction on the blonde's face. Neither of them realized or cared how close they were to each other.

To an unbiased third party, it might have looked like Caroline and Klaus simply fell onto each other's lips and things escalated from there. But it was deeper than that, it happened at the speed of light to human eyes. To them, it was long and drawn out how Caroline leaned up onto her tiptoes because with her bare feet, she was too short for Klaus and how Klaus' hand came to catch her cheek when her lips press up against his.

His other hand instantly went to her waist to bring her against him and anchor her to his body like a ship coming into the harbour. Caroline knew that being with Klaus was like being out at open sea without a sail but the moment her lips touched his, she felt safe in his arms. So she fell into them and let her body do what it had been pining for without her even realising. How she'd got physically closer and closer to him during their argument, her body as desperate for his touch as Klaus was for hers.

Klaus parted her lips skilfully and his tongue slipped into her mouth, Caroline denying him nothing as she slipped her hands into his hair, only her toes were still on the floor. Their bodies were melded together to all extensive purposes, only their clothes acted as barriers between their flesh; however where their skin did met, it was hot and electric and at a maddeningly fast pace, their kiss escalated as Klaus' hands trailed to her hips.

Using the leverage, he lifted her up into his arms. Caroline's bare legs wrapped their way around his hips as he pushed her back against the wall for the second time in five minutes. Only this time instead of holding her there with his hand around her neck, he began to nip and suck at the skin there instead. Caroline groaned at the sensations, her vampire face showing itself as she closed her eyes and let him work his magic on her nerves once more.

Her fingers worked their way into his hair, pushing his scalp this way and that way to encourage him to work the more sensitive parts of her neck. He didn't argue with her, his hands holding her thighs to keep her pinned to the wall as he kissed her neck. Caroline's chest heaved as he continued with his ministrations and she almost squirmed under his grip to try and get some more sensation, more stimulation.

Klaus chuckled as her hips met his, letting out a breathy sigh as the cotton of her underwear met his jeans. "Careful there, love. You don't know what you're doing." He smirked into her neck, Caroline tugged slightly on his hair and he realized that she knew exactly what she was doing to him. It rolled off them both, the electric aura of arousal and sensuality. Caroline un-wrapped her legs from his hips and her bare feet touched the floor inaudibly.

He kept his hands around the undersides of her thighs and moved them to hold her hips, trying to control her pelvis' movements against his. Regain a little control in this little dance of theirs. Call him a traditionalist but he believed a man should lead the dance. He began to pepper kisses along her collarbone, nipping at the flesh across the bone a few times as he approached the lace trim of her vest. Caroline's fingers worked at slipping Klaus' jacket off his shoulders, it heavily fell to the floor with a thud and her manicured nails began to rake under the fabric of his shirt.

Caroline whined and arched towards Klaus' touch, trying to get more pleasure and stimulation from his lips. Klaus chuckled and gripped her hips, pushing her back into the wall. Caroline made a displeased sound when her back hit the wall and before Klaus could get his bearings and continue with his planned course, he had been pushed back into the armchair that sat by Caroline's makeshift bar and she was straddling him, pushing her hair back from her face she did.

Klaus couldn't easily be overpowered but Caroline had thrown him back into this chair like he was a ragdoll. Maybe he'd let her, knowing that allowing her would lead to this. His free hand gripped at the bare flesh of her thighs. "Someone's been drinking her milk." He chuckled as she began to kiss down his neck, getting her revenge.

"Or her B positive." She breathed. Klaus moved his hand to place his fingers into her hair and used the leverage to move her lips to his. He kissed her passionately and deeply, a kiss he'd been saving up for 150 years. She groaned onto his lips and returned the favour by rolling her hips down onto his, as if for every groan he pulled from her; she had to get him back. It was a power struggle of the highest proportions as Caroline wrapped her arms around his neck and adjusted herself on top of Klaus' lap like she'd been born to sit there.

Klaus moved his hands to hold her thighs and urge her to wrap her legs around his waist once more as he lifted her up, their lips still connected. She did as his hands commanded, nipping at his bottom lip and groaning onto the flesh as she drew blood. Her tongue swiped out at the exposed drops of blood and savoured each drop as she lapped it up before the tiny wound closed again. For the first time, she was drinking his blood for pleasure not for her life. The hybrid tried not to stumble at her antics, pushing the door to her bedroom open and dropping her onto the sheets unceremoniously.

Her hands instantly grabbed at his shirt and pulled it over his head, discarding it as she tried to sit up and regain her control back. He pushed her back onto the bed and held her there for a second, the only skin touching was his hand against her shoulders. Caroline caught her breath and looked up at him through lidded eyes, her chest heaving. Klaus kept his eyes locked on hers for a few seconds before taking a few seconds to rake them down her body. She hadn't removed an item of clothing since his arrival but she was still less dressed than he was.

"I'm not a museum piece, you are, but I'm not. You can do more than look." Caroline breathed before kissing him once more, swallowing Klaus' chuckle at her line and her reference to his age. She was sorely mistaken if she thought that had any effect on his physicality or ability to make her scream. He moved his hands to her vest and ripped the fabric from her skin, revealing her bare chest to him. She didn't move to cover herself in the slightest, completely comfortable in her own skin.

"I'll show you a museum piece." He smirked onto her lips, throwing the scraps of her vest aside and beginning to kiss down her chest where he'd left off before she pushed him into the chair. Once he'd retraced his steps, he began to kiss between the valley between her breasts. She moved her hands into his curls but it did nothing to control him as he kissed down her stomach, worshipping every inch of skin that he could reach with his lips. She groaned and watched him with lustful eyes, whining occasionally.

Klaus was less aggressive as his finger slid under the band of her underwear and slid them down her legs, his lips working at a point on Caroline's hips that caused her to almost buck under the pressure that his lips and teeth caused. Once they had joined her shredded vest in the corner of her room, Klaus continued his quest down her body, inhaling the musty scent of her arousal as he did. Caroline quickly caught onto his plan, the plan he'd had since he'd pushed her back into the wall, and her head fell back with a moan, her hair puddled around her head like a strange halo.

He made quick work of her, using his tongue and his lips to get her writhing and bucking her hips like her life depended on the pleasure coursing their veins, like a drug addict finally getting their fix. She tugged at his curls but Klaus barely registered the sensation as he held her hips in either hand and continued to tongue her. Her toes dug into the sheets as they curled in pleasure, her chest heaving as she moaned and writhed.

It wasn't until she breathed his name in a light plea than he looked up at her with a smirk. This was not the response that Caroline wanted however. She groaned in annoyance this time and tried to force his head back down, he didn't bow to her wishes so she propped herself up on her elbows. Frustration of two different kinds was mixed in her eyes as she caught her breath and began to reprimand him. "Why did you stop?" She asked, exasperated.

Klaus didn't know why he had stopped, his name falling off her lips thing whilst she writhed in pleasure that he was giving her was a thing he'd dreamed about for years. Caroline may have left his conscious thoughts but his subconscious continued to pine for the blonde in his arms. He should have finished her off with that encouragement. Caroline didn't take his silence as an answer and she pulled him up and onto his back, swinging her leg over his middle and leaning over him. Her hair tickled at his chest as she hooked her thumbs into the waistband of his jeans. She pressed her lips against his as she pushed his jeans and boxers down.

The hybrid lifted his hips to help her discard his jeans, completely captivated by her grab of the power in a moment of his weakness. She was his weakness and she'd taken advantage of that, now she was on top of him, grinding down and controlling not only his pleasure but her own. He groaned and sat up, pushing her up with him so they were chest to chest and wrapping his hands around her hips. He nipped at her bottom lip and she groaned once more, grinding her hips down onto his arousal. "I'm not done with you yet, love." He promised.

"I'd hope not." She breathed as he lifted her hips and brought her down onto him. Her lips made a perfect 'o' shape as her walls engulfed him and her head fell back. Klaus watched her reactions as their hips began to move against each other, groaning from the sight and continuing, determined to take his time and make this sensation last.


	15. Part 15

**I know I'm terrible for pushing back the chapter a week, and it sucks but I think I might have to make it a constant thing that the chapter is every two weeks instead of one as I'm about to start University (got it, get in!) and I also have work. I want to present work of quality, not chapters that have been rushed and such so I'm going to make it every two weeks from now on. I hope you guys don't hate me and if you don't, then yay!**

**So enjoy the new chapter, funnily enough, the last chapter was the most reviewed thus far. I can't imagine what caused that in the slightest but thank you for nearly 30 reviews in one chapter and for getting this story up to 329 reviews in 14 chapters! That's honestly amazing! Thank you guys so much and keep reviewing and reading!**

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"Are you ever going to tell me what this is all about?" Klaus asked, rubbing his thumb pad over the ink that was pressed into Caroline's skin. The little hummingbird tattoo on her shoulder blade moved with its owner's movement as she readjusted on the mattress. Her back was pressed against Klaus' front as he held her there with one arm around her waist, the other on her shoulder blade.

"That's my shoulder blade. It's unknown what the evolutionary purpose of the shoulder blade is but I like to think that's where the wings went before they were bred out when we evolved from angels." Caroline commented wryly and sarcastically. Klaus rolled his eyes at her diversion from the question he'd posed. Caroline waited a second or two before rolling into her back. "Wow, no 'you're an angel anyways'. I set that one right up." She chuckled.

"I would never say something so predictable or cliché." Klaus responded as Caroline propped herself up on her elbows, the sheets shifting and falling innocently to her mid waist. The hybrid's eyes flickered downwards to see what visual delights the movement had exposed for just a second and he hummed lowly, almost growled in appreciation. Meanwhile, Caroline was staring at him in disbelief of his previous statement, undeterred by his borderline ogling her as her eyebrow ticked. "Besides, I think you've proved that you are certainly no angel tonight." He added.

"So I'm the Devil?" She asked, the other eyebrow ticking. Klaus could feel the hole he was digging for himself but knew that Caroline wasn't as petty to be genuinely upset by such words. This was proved when she chuckled a few seconds later and fell onto her back, beginning to speak. "Well, I think I can deal with that. That would be a plot twist, the devil being a woman. I'd love to see the Pope's face."

"Hmm, well if you haven't noticed, the devil incarnate is sort of my territory, love." He chuckled, going to kiss behind her ear, nibbling on her earlobe. Caroline made a little noise and pressed her lips together to suppress her moans.

"Yeah, but then again, so was King of The Quarter." Caroline teased, moving to roll herself on top of Klaus. He quirked an eyebrow at her as she hovered over him, swinging one leg over his middle and putting her hands on his chest to keep him down. "Maybe I want to be the devil too." She added thoughtfully, like she was planning her campaign for the title already. Klaus didn't press the issue of her stealing his title from him, sensing this was not the time nor the mood with her hair tickling his chest and her breath against his skin.

"How would you go about becoming the Devil then?" He asked as she began to plant soft kisses on his chest, her fingers tracing the tattoo on the side of his pectorals. Klaus watched her nip and suck against his skin, ignoring his previous question. "You still didn't answer my question about your little tattoo, sweetheart. There must be a story there." Klaus reminded her softly.

"It's such a boring and irrelevant story from years ago, I hardly remember it. Do you want me to stop and tell you?" She whispered softly, kissing along his jaw. Klaus wound one hand into her hair and groaned once before realising her game. He'd never thought that Caroline would use sex as a distraction, distracting him in general was her speciality but this, the soft kisses and her fingers tracing his biceps, this was a new technique of hers. Fangs dropping, Caroline brushed them against his neck, his jugular jumped at the pressure the little points caused in his skin and Klaus nearly forget why she'd needed to be so distracting. He sat up in desperation to grapple at some of the power she had over him, holding her waist and she pulled back, her vampire teeth receding at the shock of the sudden change in positions.

"No." He admitted, kissing her on the lips hotly as he rolled her onto her back, pressing her into the mattress. Caroline cupped his cheek as they kissed. Klaus' hands came to cup her waist and as their lips mashed and locked again and again passionately. Caroline whined underneath him, squirming when he began to kiss down her neck like she'd been doing moments before. "I want to taste you." He groaned wantonly against her skin.

Caroline moaned at the words, and her hand slipped into his hair, holding him there. "Then do it." She breathed her permission, her chest flushed against his as it heaved. The little noises that Klaus was pulling from Caroline's throat drove him crazy as his fangs dropped and he bit into Caroline's throat, breaking the skin and blood rushing to the surface instantly. Klaus hadn't drunk Caroline's blood in 150 years but he still remembered the rich and smooth taste to it. It was distinctly Caroline, sweet, and warm with a bit of a kick.

The memories and the fact he hadn't fed in nearly two days made her blood taste so sweet, like the first sip of water given to a man who was dying of thirst.

It was his salvation and his doom at the same time.

He barely noticed the pinching feel as Caroline bit down on his shoulder, her fang piercing his skin as she drank greedily. Now, every time he drank from her, she returned the favour, the perfect cycle of give and take that continued for minutes- hours- Klaus didn't know. When he finally relented and pulled back, Caroline was breathless, her lips were stained ruby red and her head fell back onto the pillow as the mark he'd left on her neck vanished easily. Her vampire face was just receding as Klaus took a moment to look at her, take her in once more.

"Now that you mention it, love, you might make a quite convincing incarnation of the devil." He breathed his appraisal as he hovered over her, pressing lazy kisses into her jawline as he spoke. Klaus could feel her smirk triumphantly and hummed happily. He could worship her body for days in this bed, like the Queen that she undoubtedly was, the Queen that he wanted by his side. "But then the Devil needs a wife."

"Are you proposing?" She asked, putting a hand on his chest to halt his kisses and look him in the eye. There was a smile on her lips but her eyes were serious, there was an untold emotion there. Was it worry? Klaus thought to himself. "Because I'm going to have to break your heart if that's the case…" She added with a smirk, her eyes still filled with that indescribable emotion.

"Of course not. Marriage is completely and utterly human a concept, a silly trifle that people like us need not concern ourselves with. If love is true, it doesn't need validation. And certainly not in the form of an expensive party and a white dress." He replied in an attempt to ease her worries as she wrapped the sheet around herself. Klaus lay on his back and she tucked herself into his chest, her devil may care attitude fading fast from her body as she listened to him speak. She seemed comforted by his touch but cold in his arms at the same time as he just held her. "I was simply suggesting that the solution to our leadership problem seems obvious." He explained.

Caroline sat up. "You want me to rule with you? Be your Queen?" She asked, quirking her eyebrow in question as she spoke. Her tone suggested she wasn't impartial to the idea.

"Would that be so terrible?"

"You don't get it." She explained, slipping out from under the sheets and padding her way over to the chaise she'd thrown a nightgown earlier. It was a thin cotton thing that was translucent and left little to the imagination, though Klaus wasn't focusing on her body right now as he sat up.

"Feel free to explain, you cryptic creature." He quipped.

"When was the last time a vampire my age had power over vampires a hundred, two hundred years older than them?" She asked. Klaus tilted his head in consideration. "When was the last time a baby vampire was head of a coven this large and with members as old as 600 years old?" She asked him, going to sit on the low armchair she'd found him a few days old. Klaus sighed and made a tsking noise that implied he didn't know.

"When was the last time a vampire like me had power over you?" was her next, quiet question. The hybrid and the Queen's eyes met for a long moment from their respective places in the bedroom, and the penny dropped for Klaus. In the next second, Caroline had stood and walked to the balcony doors, leaning in the frame and looking at the city, her city. The city she had earned fair and square. "I like being powerful, I like being this young and having the world at my feet. This place is my home and it's the first place I've been truly happy." She admitted softly, her eyes on the city lights.

Somewhere in the streets, probably a bar, a party was leaking music out into the streets to be caught by Klaus and Caroline's keen ears and it was the only thing that filled the silence between them. "Don't you dare judge me for it, your power lust dwarfs mine, but I won't give it up easily. And every time I admit my feelings for you, every second I'm not some cold, manipulative bitch, that power balance goes back to the way it was all those years ago. I'm not going back to being that girl; I'm not going to be the second best, the go to, the less powerful." She told him, refusing to look at him.

There was another long pause as Caroline crossed her arms and sighed heavily. "I learned too late that when you admit feelings for someone, it gives them the power. They have you in the palm of their hand and you'll never get that back." She added like an afterthought, almost to herself.

"You would never lose your power, you would share it." Klaus insisted. Caroline scoffed and rolled her eyes, the gesture visible through her thin sheen of blonde hair that had fallen across her face. Klaus got out of bed and crossed the room to stand behind Caroline, pressing a soft kiss onto her shoulder. She didn't shrug away; her head fell back onto his shoulder like she was comforted by his touch but wouldn't say it aloud. He wanted to tell her that she would always have power over him but instead, he kissed her earlobe.

Caroline inhaled deeply and he wrapped his arms around her waist. "I can't." Klaus didn't know what she couldn't do, but he knew whatever it was, it probably wasn't good for him. "We're playing on opposite sides of the chessboard, not the same side. And there will only ever be one winner in this game."

It sounded like a promise.

There were a few moments of silence and Klaus cupped her waist, bringing her back against his chest tightly and simply enjoyed the feel of her. "It doesn't matter, I'm a dying breed." She whispered. "Stefan is going to kill me. He's probably still on vervain, being around Rebekah for so long so he can't be compelled or swayed." Caroline promised.

"I'll kill him first."

"And risk Rebekah's wrath?"

"Rebekah doesn't scare me."

Caroline laughed musically. "She scares me. You are invincible, I am breakable." She informed him like it was obvious. Caroline turned and put her hands on his shoulders, rubbing the tips of her fingers into his skin like a massage. "Let this end. I'm tired of running and hiding and being scared of my past, letting it control me. You can understand that, of all people. Let me end this." She told him. "Please. All those years ago you said you would let me die if that's what I truly wanted." She reminded him.

"I did." Klaus replied coldly, his hands still on her waist to keep her in his grip. "But you don't want to die, Caroline. You want to do the honourable thing and die rather than spilling more blood because of your actions. But that won't bring them back, it won't satisfy Stefan's sorrows and it won't make anything better. All it will bring is more heartache and someone, maybe even me, will avenge you. You are too good to die because of that doppelgänger. You have convinced yourself that death is the honourable option but it's the easy way out." He breathed.

There was a tense moment where their eyes met and Caroline swallowed thickly as Klaus continued. "You would die a Queen and a martyr and nobody, not even I, can take that from you for the rest of time. You would forever be a Queen rather than someone lost that power whilst they lived. Immortalisation through martyrdom. You don't want to die. You want to live forever as a legend, a story that vampires will tell around tables for years to come."

"Stop it." Caroline hissed through gritted teeth. "What do you know anyways?" She asked, yanking herself from his grip and trying to get away. Klaus wrapped a hand around her upper arm and pulled her back against his chest.

"I know that you are hiding the truth from me because telling the truth would make you weak. And weakness is your greatest fear." He told her. "I know that you didn't just happen to have a tattoo with a hummingbird or keep my bracelet all these years. I know that you were glad that I killed Damon and I know you were relieved when I turned up at your apartment this evening. I know you were testing to see if I would come back to you if you were in danger. And I know that you think that you're oh so good at hiding all this from me." Klaus whispered onto her lips.

"And I know you're a hybrid jackass who only wants to charm me into sharing the power then push me into a front position whilst you take all the power for yourself. Keeping me alive and keeping up appearances to please the people." She hissed back, their lips still only inches apart.

"You couldn't be more wrong."

"Neither could you."

"Then tell me the story of the tattoo. If it truly holds no sentimental value, what's a little story to lighten the pillow talk?" He challenged, quirking an eyebrow and moving his hand to hold her wrist in his grip. Caroline looked at his hand and tried to snatch her wrist back. She swallowed thickly.

"Did it occur to you at any point that I just like hummingbirds? Not everything revolves around you." She sniped.

"Not everything, but most things." He quipped back.

"You're a smarmy git." She told him

"And you're a closet power hungry princess with trust issues. We make quite the pair." Klaus replied, putting her hand against his chest and wrapping a hand around her bicep to pull her close. This time she didn't try to pull away.

"_We_ don't make _anything._"

"Other than a lot of noise. Well you do, I do hope James hasn't been at home for the last three hours otherwise the poor bloke is going to be scarred for life at the sound of his best friend shouting my name again and again as I fu-" He smirked. Caroline cut him off before he could continue.

"Could you be any more conceited?" She asked him. Her tone was poisonous but there was a hint of bemusement in there somewhere. Klaus knew exactly where, in her eyes. They showed her true emotions, like a window into her heart. Right now, they were filled with amusement where her words were filled with annoyance and a hint of hatred for him. With her eyes so lit up, Klaus knew he could continue to push her, tease her as he always had and always would. Push her towards that ever so sweet confession that he held a place in her heart.

"I'll give it my best shot, Your Majesty." Klaus promised. With that, he claimed her lips as his once more. She moulded herself into the kiss almost instantly. He released her wrist to pull her close with both hands on her hips and her hands wound into his hair, coiling her fingers around his curls endlessly as they moved their lips against the other. Klaus nipped at her bottom lip and she groaned, pleased, as he pushed her back towards the bed. She slipped her dressing gown off her shoulders and it fell to the floor, discarded and forgotten about.

"I loathe you." She hissed. Klaus chuckled, knowing in her heart she was substituting a different L word. A word that even Klaus would have trouble saying to his own family, much less this enchanting girl in front of him. They didn't need to say it now. But Klaus hoped and knew one day they wouldn't need the substitution.

"Right back at you, love." He growled as they went back to the amorous activities of earlier that evening.


	16. Part 16

**First of all, yes I know it's not Wednesday which is when I said I would post the new chapter. But I decided to pull it up to today to celebrate getting 1,500 followers on Tumblr today, which is a massive achievement and I couldn't have done it without the guys over at Tumblr for following and enduring my madness for nearly a year now. I thought that such a big milestone in follower count deserved a special celebration so I am posting today. Also, my friend Lani won the best fluffy drabble in the Klaroline awards so this chapter is dedicated to Lani, who many may know as ****sophisticatedfangirling on Tumblr. You should all check out her stuff, especially the drabble series she's writing for me. So, thank you Lani for being awesome :D**

**Also, I'd like to thank the reviewers of this story for getting this story over 500 followers, 275 alerts and a whooping 353 reviews! That's honestly amazing and I'm so happy that all of you enjoy the story so much! I'm going to stop talking because I bet half of you have skipped ahead to the chapter, but for those who have read this, thank you and enjoy! **

* * *

"You don't have to go straight away." Caroline commented as she walked with Marcel down the street, arms across her chest as she spoke. The older of the two walked with more confidence and openness as they wandered. Marcel chuckled.

"I know you're all nothing without me but I have places to be and unless you've changed your mind about coming to London with me then I have no reason to be here anymore, besides making James uncomfortable by flirting with Saoirse and making Klaus uncomfortable by flirting with you…" Marcel informed her. Caroline rolled her eyes at the Klaus comment and pushed some hair from her face before it could fall fully into her eyes and obstruct her vision. "Come on, you know you like watching him squirm as much as I do. It gives you a power high."

"Klaus doesn't get uncomfortable. He gets angry and murder-y." She reminded him with a sigh.

"Same difference." Marcel shrugged.

"Only you could think uncomfortable is synonymous with psychotic murder spree. Well, you and Klaus. Maybe Aurora's right and you are made for each other. You could raise a batch of murdering psychopathic baby vampires together and live in the wine country." She giggled, Marcel rolled his eyes.

"That's it; I'm leaving now to save my ego." He commented. "I hope you're miserable without me. Though by the smirk on Klaus' face this morning and the way you're glowing like a stripper in a spotlight, I highly doubt it." Marcel smirked.

Caroline rolled her eyes. "I did not sleep with him."

"Yeah, you were too busy doing other things instead of sleeping." Marcel retorted as the poor human he'd compelled to drive him to the airport waited in their car on the curb. He'd come with little more than the clothes on his back, not needing any since he had more than enough money to buy clothes wherever he went. The car sat on the curb as he ducked his head in the car to give the blank faced driver his destination, he turned to her, putting his hands on her shoulders and kissing her forehead softly. She smiled and decided to ignore his comments about Klaus and his involvement in her sex life. "Don't worry, I won't tell James." He added.

Caroline chuckled at that, she really did hope that James hadn't actually been in the building the night before like he said he hadn't been. He wouldn't say where he had been last night when she'd seen him earlier that morning but he insisted he hadn't come home before 5am though slightly curious as to why she wanted to know. By that time, Caroline was curled up to Klaus, both finally exhausted from their repeated excursions in the bedroom. And the shower. And the bar. And against the wall.

A change in Marcel's expression caught her attention back and he began to speak, squeezing her shoulders reassuringly as he did. "In all seriousness, watch yourself, Caroline. Don't let yourself get carried away by him. Don't let yourself get hurt. I want you sitting in that bar smiling and laughing when I come back here for a visit, so you can hold back Aurora when she tries to hit me-"

"I won't hold her back, I'll cheer her on." Caroline interrupted him.

"Either way, as long as you are here when I come back to see my favourite three girls. Can you promise that?" He commented softly, and for a second, he was being someone other than the smarmy, sarcastic jerk Caroline knew and loved.

But Caroline knew she couldn't promise that. She knew that when Marcel returned god only knew when, she would be long dead. She knew that he would probably hear about her death from a sobbing Saoirse who finally found it in herself to call him as he sat in a London bar, enjoying his corner of the world. But instead of admitting this, she just nodded and he smiled his Cheshire Cat grin. "I promise o be careful with Klaus." She lied coolly. Well, not technically lying. Marcel took both her hands from her sides and held them at chest level together, squeezing them.

"Good. And look after them, all of them. I know Saoirse and James are like some twisted replacement parents and Aurora can't keep her mouth shut but they love you anyway. Now until next time, princess." He smiled, pressing a kiss to the spot where her hands joined. "My door is always open to you." He reminded her. Caroline nodded and smiled as Marcel climbed into the car.

The comment about Saoirse and James lingered her mind. It was true; they were like her parents in some strange, twisted way that worked. Saoirse was more her big sister and confidante, but they could both be extremely parental of the blonde. Caroline sighed heavily and raced forward to stop Marcel shutting the door. He looked up at her expectantly and curiously.

"Could you give me a ride to the airport?" She asked.

* * *

"Have you seen Caroline? I haven't seen her all day." Saoirse asked Aurora as she practically stormed in the bar in a flurry. The bartender looked up from the book she was reading and thought for a second.

"I think she was saying goodbye to Marcel...yeah that's what Klaus said when he came in earlier. She managed to get him to give the two of them some space to say goodbye, he wasn't happy about it." Aurora explained as she turned the page. "In the matter of Marcel, good riddance. If he never comes back here, it'll be too soon." She murmured.

"How long ago was that?" Saoirse asked, leaning on the bar.

"This morning. About 9am."

Saoirse checked her watch. "It's now 2pm. It doesn't take 5 hours to say goodbye to someone." She reminded Aurora curtly. The younger girl nodded slowly, not really getting the point of the statement. What exactly was Saoirse implying here? She thought to herself as James and one of the wolf pack's alphas, Megan, walked in. The pair were talking about something that did not interest Aurora in the slightest.

Saoirse rounded on James. "When was the last time you saw Caroline?" She snapped her voice on the edge of panic.

"This morning on her way out of the building." James answered automatically.

"I saw her getting in a car with Marcel this morning." Megan piped up helpfully though her eyes were weary of the look that Saoirse had on her face the moment she finished her sentence. There was a few seconds silence "Is that bad? Is she in some sort of danger?" Megan asked, one of the wolf pack that was completely loyal to Caroline. As loyal as Megan's pack was to her.

James and Saoirse shared a look. "I need to find Klaus." She spoke quickly in a hurry to get the words out of her mouth, out of the bar before she was done.

* * *

Caroline fingered the flower bouquet she'd purchased from a local florist, treading across the grass as she made her way to her destination. She was here on a complete whim, glad that she could get a plane out so quickly. Perhaps, though she doubted it, she could get home before anyone had really started panicking that she was gone. She'd turned her phone off for the plane journey and not yet turned it back on. She wanted to be alone.

Her heels sunk into the mud as she walked, the wind blowing cold across her cheeks. The weather was a stark contrast to New Orleans. Caroline must have looked so strange in a sundress and some heels in the middle of May in a place like this. She either still had the sunglasses sitting on top of her head from this morning when the sun was glaring. She sighed heavily and lowered them over her eyes to cover their growing redness and puffiness as she finally stood still and found herself face to face with what she'd come here to see.

Elena's grave stood in front of her, Caroline almost didn't want to look at it. It was old and un-kept like all the graves in the Gilbert family plot. The family tree had died out long ago so nobody was alive to care about their family tomb's upkeep. She sighed and her eyes raked along the graves of those she'd known. Jeremy, Elena's parents, Alaric, Jenna. Her chest ached as she pulled some of the roses from the bouquet, picking off some stray leaves to prune them and put them in front of the graves as a sign of respect. She did Elena's last and sighed heavily, wiping her eyes.

"I'm sorry, Elena." She breathed softly as she laid the rose on top of the grave. Caroline could envision the funeral, with everyone she'd loved. Damon and Stefan watching as they lowered Elena in the ground, a closed casket to account for the gaping wound in her chest. She wondered what they'd told the police and the authorities about her death. "This is not how things should have gone for us, and it's my fault. I'm so sorry." Caroline apologised gently.

As she walked away from the Gilbert family plot, she lifted the glasses from her eyes. Her eyes were red and puffy, the sunlight lighting up each flaw in her tear tracked and red face. She sniffed and clutched at the roses that she had left. They were yellow for friendship, not white for purity like many people usually left at gravesites.

She walked a little longer, no more than a minute to the other side of the cemetery; she paused to give a rose to Bonnie's grave that was just as old and crumbling, surrounded by the graves of her children and her grandchildren, the only one of the three girls who had a legacy behind her. She said a few quiet words to Bonnie, but she knew that she and Bonnie had said everything that they wanted to say in their lifetime together. Elena and Caroline had not gotten that chance.

After that, Caroline began to her final destination. Her shoes were ruined with mud by now and the wind had weathered her hair into a mess but she didn't care.

In the end, they had buried Liz and Bill Forbes beside each other despite the fact that they were a divorced couple and their deaths were 43 years apart. Caroline had been 18 years old when she lost her father and the year she was supposed to turn 51, she lost her mother. Elizabeth Forbes had died in her bed in the house Caroline had grown up. But she'd never seen her daughter again after that day Damon had driven her out of town. Bonnie had told her years later that Damon had told Liz that Caroline was dead, to break her heart and get back at Caroline.

That's why it didn't surprise Caroline to see a grave with her name on it, her full name with just her birth date etched on it. There was no date of death; no coffin buried six feet below Caroline's feet, no message. Just a name and a birth date.

The three graves were old and damaged by the elements and time, but they were still readable as Caroline knelt in front of the middle of the three, her father's and sat on her knees. She sighed heavily and shook her head as she read the date of death, remembering that day so clearly in her mind and how unfair it had been that her father had been taken. She robotically plucked a rose from the bouquet she'd brought and laid in the pot that had been sunk into the ground and filled with water for this occasion. There was only dirty rainwater, obviously the cemetery owners thought it was stupid to water the empty pots of people who had been dead for 150 years.

She sniffed and wiped her eyes as she stood and sat herself in front her mother's grave, laying a hand on the stone as it might serve for some connection with her mother. Her mother was happily on the other side that was reserved for humans, she'd found peace and moved on long ago. She wasn't listening for her daughter's pleas and words anymore; she thought her daughter was long dead. And for so long there had been no words for her to hear, Caroline had wanted to come here so often but stepping foot in Mystic Falls was asking to be slaughtered. Damon would probably break her skull on her own grave for dramatic irony.

Caroline rubbed her hand across the stone to dust the grave; the words became more and more readable as she traced them with her finger. Years' worth of dirt came up and attached itself to her fingertip as she cleaned the grave lovingly and with care. She'd come here to talk, but now she didn't know what she wanted to say. She chuckled to herself, she'd regressed back to the relationship she'd shared with her mother where they barely spoke and never listened. The chuckle caught in her throat however and became a sob.

"I don't know what to do, Mom." She whispered softly to the gravestone. "I'm sorry I didn't come earlier. I'm sorry that I didn't call. I'm sorry that I was so stupid and I got myself chased away. I'm sorry that you thought I was dead when I was very much alive. I'm sorry that I wasn't there for you when you needed me. I'm sorry, Mommy." She muttered under her breath, so nobody could hear her as she wept in front of her mother's grave. Caroline had many times imagined what her mother must have felt when Damon told her that her daughter, her only child, was dead; it must have been similar to the feeling in her stomach she had right now when she listened to the replying silence and realised that her mother would never talk to her again.

She hid her head in her hands for a few seconds, wiping her thumb along her eyes to clear her eyes a little. "Mommy, I'm scared. You always said that you can't run forever, but now I'm not running anymore, I just want to start again, forget everything that happened here and pretend that my life just began the day I stepped into New Orleans. I want so much to just hide and run forever, but I can't do that anymore, Mommy. I'm tired of it." She whispered softly, moving a little closer to the grave and slowly put the remaining roses in her mother's flower pot. She plucked off one petal and held in her hands for something to fidget with.

"I wish that I could have seen you just once more. I would do anything for it." She admitted gently. It must have been raining earlier judging by the moisture clinging to her legs and dress, the mud transferring itself to her clothes and skin. Caroline put her hand on the gravestone once more and sighed heavily. "I miss you so much." She told her mother softly, before slowly standing up and robotically brushing herself off. She didn't care how she looked right now.

The blonde sighed heavily and wandered off just as the rain shower began to water the roses she'd left.

* * *

Klaus walked into the cemetery around 8pm that night with an umbrella over his head, the rain was a light downpour that soaked the grass and made the mud squelch under his shoes. It hadn't taken him that long after Marcel had revealed that Caroline had taken the first flight that would get her to Virginia to realise where she had ended up. He'd left a panicking Saoirse in the very capable hands of James and Aurora to calm her down and went to retrieve their Queen.

Caroline was sat on a bench in the centre of the cemetery, holding a rose petal between two fingers and looking down at it. Klaus began over; she was well and truly soaked in her purple sundress and ruined designer heels, her hair soaked around her. Even though she was drenched, she was still the brightest thing around. He sat down beside her, she looked up when she noticed that she was no longer getting rained on because of the umbrella he was holding over her head.

"Are you trying to scare Saoirse half to death?" He asked to open what was bound to be an interesting conversation, a little amusement in his voice. "Because if you are, there are far more entertaining ways. Less dangerous, too." He added.

"I didn't mean to worry her, I just knew that none of them wouldn't let me leave by myself and this was something that I had to go alone." She explained softly, almost too quiet to hear over the rain as she began to shred the petal gently into tiny little pieces that fell into her lap. Caroline looked around the cemetery. "The town looks exactly how I remember it. I was wandering around today, half expecting Elena or Bonnie to round the next corner." She added nonchalantly. Klaus nodded, understanding the feeling.

"But they're all here." She murmured, defeated. "I should be here too."

Klaus sighed and wrapped an arm around Caroline's shoulders, hoping to comfort her. He didn't expect that she would curl herself into him and put her head into his chest and begin to cry lightly into his jacket but it didn't shock him when she did. He rubbed her bare but wet arm and kissed her forehead gently. Caroline didn't react to any of this, just continued to cry onto him.


	17. Part 17

**Hey all, sorry that you guys are having to wait two weeks instead of one but I'm offically at University now so I'm swamped with classes and studying and clubs and stuff, I hope you all will understand and enjoy the chapters when they come rather than having rushed chapters. This chapter is shorter than other because it leads to a big long scene and I didn't want to cut that in half, so you get one shorter chapter followed by a long chapter rather than two medium sized chapters in which you have to wait two weeks to see the end. **

**Thanks again for all the support, it's absolutely wonderful! **

* * *

Klaus and Caroline remained like that for a while, her tears eventually subsiding to shudders in her chest then finally down to a calm breathing. He looked down at the blonde cowering into his side and sighed heavily as the rain began to slow with her breathing. She didn't speak; she stared at the damp green grass with immense concentration so Klaus didn't disturb her.

What did disturb them was the ringing of Klaus' phone. He pulled it out from his jacket pocket, shifting the pair of them and looking down at the number. It was not one he recognised, but something compelled him to press answer regardless. He did so and held the device to his ear, giving a curt greeting that implied he was busy and then a "Who's calling?"

"Hello, Klaus."

He knew that voice and so did Caroline. It was a voice Klaus hadn't heard in a decade and Caroline hadn't heard in a century. The blonde straightened up from where she had been leaning against him, shock in her eyes. She swallowed thickly and gave him a look, an authority look that tried to push him around. Caroline mouthed 'give me the phone' but Klaus ignored her and spoke into the device with a mock cheer in his voice. "Stefan, it's nice to speak to you again. I assume Rebekah gave you this number." He commented, his eyes still on Caroline.

"Where is she?" Stefan asked.

"Rebekah? I wouldn't know, I thought she was with you." Klaus shot back. Caroline was sat watching him and chewed her nails as the conversation continued, Klaus feigning that he wasn't sittingwith the girl Stefan was after. If he closed his eyes, he could imagine that he was sitting in a bar somewhere and it seeped into his voice. He closed his eyes and took Caroline's free hand to anchor himself to her and the reality.

"My, my, you haven't upset her again, have you? Have you tried Vegas? That's usually her first port of call when you two fight." He commented casually, opening his eyes again and pretending he wasn't looking straight at the girl he knew Stefan wanted to talk to.

"You know who I mean, Klaus, I don't want to play games." Stefan replied tersely as the blonde shifted uncomfortably in her spot and mouthed for him to hand the phone over once more but Klaus returned his look of 'no way in Hell'. "I can hear her breathing. Put her on the phone."

"That could be anyone; there are billions of people on this planet. And I don't take orders. Remember, Stefan?" Klaus returned flippantly.

"Put her on the phone or I'll cut the red head's fingers off one by one."

"I don't know any redheads." Klaus insisted softly, not wanting to jump to conclusions just too quickly though he could see the panic in Caroline's eyes. She knew that Stefan could very well mean Saoirse or one of the thousand other ginger or red heads in New Orleans. Caroline couldn't have gone the last hundred years without talking to more than one red head. But Stefan was smart; he must have figured out Caroline's circle quickly and gone for the one who would get her attention the quickest. The big sister character, the sweet, innocent Irish woman.

"Well, I found her walking down a street in New Orleans, quite distressed; I have friends here who say she's Caroline's number two. She's red haired, freckles, blue eyes, Irish accent, and a tattoo on her inner wrist that reads…" Stefan clicked his tongue and there was a small sound of a struggle that made Caroline flinch. "She didn't want to show off but it reads 'be halfway to Heaven before the devil knows you're dead.' Still don't believe me, Caroline?" He asked.

A lot of different things happened at once. Klaus and Caroline's eyes met with shock in hers. She recognised that tattoo. It was Saoirse. He saw her recognise this threat; register it, a threat against her pseudo sister, her best friend and anger flared up in her eyes. She swiped the phone from Klaus and he didn't stop her, letting her take the device from his lax grip. She stood up, her heels sinking into the mud and held it against her ear, looking unnerved.

"Don't you dare hurt her." Caroline nearly shouted down the phone, half-angry, half-distraught. Klaus watched her, an odd mix of the Queen and the scared little girl from way back when. She took a deep breath and pinched the bridge of her nose, closing her eyes to stop the tears. "Stefan, please don't hurt her. I'll do whatever you want, just please. She has nothing to do with this. She doesn't even know and she-"

"She knows now." Stefan's voice came through the line, clear to Klaus' fine hearing. Caroline stopped dead and her eyes snapped open once more. Klaus just watched on, he'd never been so willing to bend to someone's will for someone he loved or even cared about. Not even his own siblings. Stefan had threatened to throw them into the ocean and he'd flinched, but only at the last minute. A part of him would have let Stefan do it. Caroline was putting her life on the line for her friend in a blink of an eye. She was getting nothing out of this, save for Saoirse's safety and nothing else. "We had a long chat. I told her everything, Caroline. Elena; your hiding, the vampires you killed, Damon. All of it. Must be a hard thing to hear your best friend killed her previous best friend."

Klaus could see the despair in her eyes behind the tears. It was out there now, her deep dark secret had been revealed. Something she had worked so hard to keep secret from the people she loved was exposed, her secret shame. Well, perhaps Klaus was her new secret shame, but you get attached to these things after 150 years.

"Elena asked me to do it, Stefan. Neither of you two would do it, she knew that. She trusted me." Caroline managed softly, her voice breaking as she spoke. "This isn't about Elena; this is about us, you and me. Please let Saoirse go, and I'll do what anything you want me to do. Just tell me where you are and I'll come to you." She promised once more. Klaus stood up, watching her wearily.

"So, what? You can have Klaus as your bodyguard the whole time?" Stefan shot off.

"Klaus won't be there."

"Oh, he certainly will." Klaus interrupted, a few feet from her so he knew Stefan would hear that. She looked at him angrily and glared for a few seconds. "I have no intentions of letting you wander off and talk to a man who wants to kill you. I told you that I would protect you. Do you think I was born yesterday?"

"Everyone knows you weren't born yesterday." Caroline sniped sarcastically.

Klaus snatched the phone back from Caroline's grip before she could say another word. She made a noise of protest and reached for the phone again but he put a hand on her sternum to keep her back and gave a firm shove to remind her to back off as he spoke into the phone. "And whilst we're on the subject, stop pointing the finger at Caroline for Damon's death because I was the one who killed him, Stefan. He tried to poison her with werewolf venom, one of the most awful fates you could wish upon a person and by the state of his mind; I think I did him a favour. I can show you the grave if you wish, Caroline even yelled at me for it. She didn't want him to die; she was willing to die herself." He assured the Salvatore brother sincerely. "There aren't many people like that in this world, Stefan, they should be treasured."

There was a brief silence where three of them had nothing to say. Caroline looked up and caught his eyes, her chest lifting and falling as she breathed. Their eyes met as his words lingered in the air; he'd admitted that she was a treasure, something precious, something worth preserving.

"And for that reason, Caroline won't be within a mile of you unless I am there. And whilst on the subject of good-hearted people, you will be returning Saoirse to where you found her because she has a very protective male companion who is 100 years your senior who will rip you limb from limb if you hurt his precious angel. And I've had enough of revenge seeking lovers and brothers for the next century. Revenge gets cold after 150 years." Klaus reminded Stefan.

"I don't trust her." Caroline flinched at these cold words coming from someone she had once cared about and who had returned that. "And I certainly don't trust you."

"You'd be a fool to. But you forget that you seem to have taken up residence in my sister's heart so you are untouchable."

Stefan chuckled darkly down the phone, and the blonde and the hybrid locked eyes once more. She was still pretty angry looking but there was a hint of confusion in her eyes as to what he found so funny that he was chuckling. They got their answer a moment later. "And I suppose Caroline has taken up residence in yours?" It was a statement really, not a question and they both knew that. Caroline turned away as her cheeks went red, probably glad Stefan couldn't see them right now.

"If you want to talk to Caroline face to face, you're going to have to do it in front of me." Klaus insisted darkly after a few seconds had passed, completely dodging the subject matter that Stefan had raised in the last sentence. Because the answer was an un-resounding yes. "I'm sure that the pair of you can catch up and you'll see that you have no reason to swear revenge against her or harm her in any way." He added as Caroline turned back to Klaus, her cheeks almost back to normal and she sighed heavily.

"If I don't have any reason to harm her, then why are you going to be there?" Stefan asked curiously.

"Because I want him to be..." Came Caroline's voice before Klaus could shoot off some comment about how the Salvatore brothers were, well had been, unreliable and not on the top of Klaus' most trustworthy list. Her voice was small but strong and it spoke a thousand more words than were heard. She was saying she trusted him to protect her, she was saying she wanted him to stay by her side, she was staying that she felt safe with him nearby. "Tell us where to meet you and we'll be there tonight. Safe conduct, just give me Saoirse and I'll tell you everything you want and need to know." Caroline bargained, her voice becoming more hardened and Queen like with every syllable uttered. Klaus smirked proudly at her, even more so when Stefan named off an address and told them to be there tonight before hanging up.

Klaus looked at the phone that was ringing out that familiar hang up tone for a second as he processed the last few minutes of information in his head. Caroline ran her hands through her hair and swore lightly under her breath, muttering to herself about getting back to New Orleans before the night was out. Hearing the worry rise in her voice, Klaus took her shoulders in his hands to keep her calm. "I will get us there, don't worry. All right?" He assured her in a soothing tone. Caroline nodded and took a breath in and a deep breath out. The temptation nagged at Klaus' brain and he couldn't fight the question that rose to his lips a moment later. "Do you really want me there?"

He expected hesitation, blushing and maybe an admission if he was lucky. That was his expectation of her response when he played it in his head. But that didn't happen. Instead, she didn't hesitate or even flinch. Caroline looked him in the eyes and nodded once, her eyes watery from the stress of her phone conversation and this confession. On top of that, her friend was being held hostage, which must be at least a little distressing. She just nodded and kept her eyes with his, absolute honesty behind hers. "Yes."


End file.
